George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 

FAMILY  OF 

COLONEL  FLOWERS 


\ji'' 


SOULOUaUE 


AKO 


HIS    EMPIEE. 


FROM    ITHK    PEENCH   OF 


GUSTAVE    D^ALAUX, 


TRANSLATED  AND  EDITED 

JOHN  H.  PAEKHILL,  A.  M., 

OF  BALTIMORE. 


J.  W.  RANDOLPH, 
121  MAIN  STREET,  RICHMOND,  VA. 

1861. 


Entered  acconlinj^   to   Act   of  Congress,   in   the   year   1861,   by 

JOHN  H.  PARKHILL,  A.  M., 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  .Court  of  the  United  States  for 
the  District  of  Maryland. 


/ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Tage. 

Author's  Prcface 17 

I.  Historical  Review — Origin  of  Haytlen  Parties..     21 

IT.  Black  Politics  and   Yellow  Politics 54 

J II.  The  ye]\o\v  B(m?'<:;eoisie — A  negro  24th  of  Feb- 
ruary— Guerrier,  Pierrot,  Puche — Soulouqiie 

— A  conjured  fanlenil 67 

IV.  Negro  illuminism — Devotions  of  Madame  Sou- 

loiique — The  hunt  ahev  fetiches 82 

V.  Similien 99 

VI.  A  Flaytien  trial  of  the  press. 110 

VJ.  A  Negro  Solution 126 

VIII.  Massacres — M.  Maxime  Raybaud — Negro  Com- 
munism      134 

IX.  The  scruples  of  Soulouque — A  Negro  Impromfii^  167 

X.  The  Conspiracy  of  capital  in  Hayti 185 

XI.  A  sun-set — The  misfortunes  of  the  piquets — A 

Voltairian  papa-lot 200 

XII.  Victories  and  conquests  of  Soulouque — A  sorcery 

trial — The  Empire  and  the  Imperial  Court.  .   220 

XIII.  The  IJaylien  Clergy — Ceremony  of  the  Corona- 

tion    251 

XIV.  The  principal  of  authority  in  Hayti — The  Secret 

of  Soulouque 270 

XV.  The  Dominican   Republic, 296 


4C)4(]G;ii 


INTRODUCTION. 


Soulouque  and  His  Empire  was  publislied  at  Paris, 
in  1856.  At  that  time,  Soulouque  was  firmly 
seated  on  his  throne — his  name  a  terror  to  his  own 
wretched  people,  and  a  by-word  of  ridicule  to  all 
the  world  besides.  He  spent  nearly  ten  years — de- 
corating himself — creating  a  black  aristocracy  with 
the  most  preposterous  titles — ruthlessly  slaying 
all,  his  suspicions,  hatred,  or  caprice  singled  out — 
and,  in  making  a  ludicrous  war  on  the  Dominicans. 
The  social  condition  of  Haj^ti  was  constantly  retro- 
grading ; .  the  material  interest  of  the  country 
neglected  ;  commerce  driven  away  by  ruinous  ex- 
actions ;  and  all  sinking,  rapidly,  to  a  lower  level 
of  civilization. 

Certainly  then  ten  years  of  this  tragic  buffoonery 
was  sufficient ;  the  gew-gaw  concern  was  falling  to 
pieces  of  itself;  a  breath  of  opposition  was  only 
necessary  to  complete  the  work  ;  and  GefPrard  gave 
it.  With  a  few  resolute  follov>^ers,  on  the  25th  day 
of  December,  1858,  he  made  a  descent  upon  Port- 
au-Prince,  in  a  roiv-hoat ;  and  the  Empire  of  Faus- 
tin  1st  became  a  matter  of  history.  The  Ex-Em- 
peror, with  his  family,  escaped  to  Jamaica,  where 
1 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

he  now  passes  his  time,  playing  billiards  and 
swinging  in  a  hammock. 

The  success  of  Geffrard,  who  is  himself  a  mulatto, 
is  the  triumph  of  the  men  of  color.  This  class  is 
few  in  number,  but  it  possesses  what  there  is  in 
Hayti,  of  education,  energy,  and  hope  for  the 
future.  It  is  only,  by  and  though  it,  that  the 
ancient  prosperity  of  the  Island  can  be  restored. 
In  this  Avork,  President  GeftVard  has  a  high  mis- 
sion before  him  ;  and  we  have  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  he  will  endeavor  to  fulfill  it.  This  leads 
to  the  inquiry — how  can  he  do  it? 

Hayti  has  been,  now,  under  negro  domination 
for  seventy  years.  Previous  to  this,  the  agricul- 
tural and  commercial  prosperity  of  the  Island  had 
reached  a  high  degree  of  development.  The  popu- 
lation of  French  Hayti  exceeded  a  half  million  in 
1791  ;  and  its  annual  exports  to  France  alone  were 
more  than  five  millions  sterling.  It  could  not 
have  been  otherwise,  when  we  consider  its  favored 
material  resources.  Situated  under  the  tropics  ; 
possessing  a  climate  and  soil  eminently  fitted  to 
grow  sugar,  cotton,  and  indigo  ;  its  mountains  rich 
in  gold,  copper  and  coal  ;  its  rivers,  bordered  with 
forests  of  mahogany,  cedar,  and  dye-woods  ;  and 
its  position  on  the  track  of  the  Great  West  Indian 
trade,  making  it  the  entrepot  for  the  ships  of  all 
nations  ;  are  elements  of  wealth  possessed  by  few 
countries. 

These  were  all  fostered,  and  industriously  de- 


INTRODUCTION.  VU 

veloped,  by  the  French  colonists,  and  repaid  them 
with  fabulous  wealtli.  All  these  natural  capa])ili- 
ties  still  belong  to  Ilayti ;  but,  for  the  want  of  the 
life-giving  energy  of  labor,  and  intelligent  interest, 
have  fallen  back  into  their  aboriginal  condition. 
The  social  and  individual  characteristics  of  the 
population  are  changed.  In  fact,  it  is  not  the  same 
})eople  ;  it  was  French — it  is  now  African.  Tbis 
explains  all.  To  show,  in  its  details,  how  tliis 
change  has  destroyed  the  social  and  material  pros- 
perity of  Hayti,  would  take  a  volume  ;  involving 
consideration.s  of  history,  political  economy,  and 
ethnology.  The  space  of  a  few  pages  does  not  war- 
rant our  entering  on  such  an  investigation. 

The  fict  is,  however,  patent  to  the  world,  that 
the  present  social,  political,  and  economical  condi- 
tion of  the  Haytiens,  is  depraved  to  that  degree,  as 
to  predict  barbarism,  in  a  few  more  generations. 
Indeed,  M.  d'Alaux  says  '^  Hayti  will  be  prosper- 
ous in  ten  years,  or  cannibal  in  twenty."  This  Is- 
land lies  so'near  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  its 
capabilities  are  so  manifest,  and  its  staple  products 
are  so  necessary,  that  we  cannot  remain  indiflerent 
to  its  fate.  The  })ractical  spirit  of  the  age,  will 
not  allow,  such  a  countiy,  to  lie  waste.  How  can 
it  be  made^useful  ?  The  answer  rises  to  my  mind, 
at  once  ;  colonize  it,  loith  the  feee  blacks  of  the  Uni- 
ted States. 

In  this  direction,  lies  the  true  policy  of  Gefirard, 
in  putting  his  country  upon  a  new  career  of  im- 


VIU  INTRODUCTION. 

provemcnt.  He  seems,  already  to  have  recognized 
this ;  and,  in  a  measure,  to  have  adopted  it.  For,  it 
is  a  fact,  that  he  has  invited  the  immigration  of  free 
hhxcks  from  the  United  States  into  Hayti ;  indeed, 
has  offered  them  bounties  to  come.  Several  com- 
panies of  them  have  gone  already,  and  settled  them- 
selves doAvn  comfortably  on  tlie  rich  plains  of  tlie 
Artibonite.  These  pioneers  should  be  followed  ra- 
pidly by  others  ;  and  will  be,  if  tlie  advantages  of 
the  country  become  known. 

President  Geffrard  has  manifested,  in  this  mea- 
sure, a  correct  view  of  the  necessities  of  Hayti,  and 
a  knowledge  of  the  proper  means  of  supplying  them. 
This  liberality  argues  well  for  the  future  of  the  Is- 
land under  his  rule.  He  knows  that  the  United 
States'  immigrants  of  color  will  increase  the  influ- 
ence of  his  class,  and  thus  strengthen  his  hands  to 
carry  forward  any  plan  of  reform.  This  is  his  poli- 
tical reason.  In  an  agricultural  aspect,  these  im- 
migrants will  occupy  the  waste  lands,  and  introduce 
upon  them  improved  implements  of  husbandry  and 
labor-saving  machinery.  The  consequence  of  this 
would  be  an  increase  of  population  and  production  ; 
and,  upon- these  foundations,  mercantile  and  com- 
mercial interests  would  be  established.  These  new 
economical  agencies  would  then  only  have  to  be 
stimulated  to  their  utmost,  to  bring  back  the  ancient 
prosperity. 

The  Island  of  Hayti  is  then  open  to  tlie  immigra- 
tion of  our  free  blacks.     The  next,  and  only  ques- 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

tion  now  is  :  Will  tliey  go  ?  The  fact  is,  that  this 
class  of  our  population  have  manifested  great 
apathy  in  availing  themselves  of  the  benefits  of 
colonization.  Nearly  all  the  immigrants  annually 
taken  over  to  Liberia,  are  manumitted  slaves,  whose 
expatriation  is  made  the  condition  of  their  freedom  ; 
and  they  may  be  properly  called  compulsory  immi- 
grants. These  are  from  the  Southern  and  Middle 
States.  It  is  very  rare  that  any  Northern  free 
negroes  are  induced  to  immigrate.  Indeed,  it  may 
be  affirmed  Mdthout  incorrectness  that,  as  a  body, 
they  are  opposed  to  immigration.  This  result  has 
been  produced,  in  a  great  measure,  by  the  influence 
of  abolitionists,  who  are  opposed  to  every  scheme 
of  colonization  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United 
States.  It  can  then  be  scarcely  said  that  there  are 
any  voluntary  immigrants  to  Liberia.  The  few 
free  negroes  from  the  Middle  and  Southern  States, 
who  go  over  in  the  vessels  of  the  Colonization  So- 
ciety, are  the  only  exceptions.  The  conclusion, 
thereibre,  is  manifest :  that  if  colonization  of  the 
free  blacks  depends  upon  voluntary  immigration, 
it  is  impracticable. 

The  only  alternative  is,  that  its  beginning  and 
growth,  up  to  a  cei'tain  point,  must  be  compulsory. 
This  necessity  offends  the  feelings  of  many  jiersons 
whose  opinions  deserve  respect.  A  little  reflection 
however  will  recall  the  fact,  that  forced  coloniza- 
tion has  been  the  order  of  past  events.  The  Turi- 
'•ans  formed  the  colony  at  Plymouth  from  necessity, 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

and  were  forced  immigrants  ;  so  were  the  early 
settlers  of  Virginia,  and  tlie  exiled  Huguenots  of 
South  Carolina.  Australia  is  an  example  of  this 
in  our  own  day.  It  has  heen  for  years  a  penal 
settlement  of  En  inland  ;  until  now  it  has  arisen  to 
the  dignity  of  an  important  power  ;  and  the  pro- 
cess of  forced  settlement  luis  heen  transferred  to 
Van  Deiman's  Land  and  New  Zealand.  These  in- 
stances are  cited  to  show  that  it  is  no  new  thing 
souglit  to  he  introduced,  hut  a  recognized  method 
by  which  new  States  have  heen  founded.  We  may 
tlien  safely  answer  the  question  :  that  the  free 
blacks  of  the  United  States  will  not,  voluntaril}^ 
remove  beyond  the  limits  of  this  country  anywhere, 
either  to  Liberia  or  to  Hayti, 

The  two  classes  of  blacks,  slave  and  free,  can- 
not remain  together  in  the  same  community  with- 
out producing  pauperism  and  crime  in  one,  and 
discontent  and  insubordination  in  the  otlier.  The 
Southern  States  are  fully  convinced  of  this  truth, 
by  practical  demonstration.  Hence  the  impor- 
tance, indeed  necessity,  of  ridding  themselves  of 
the  free  blacks  in  their  midst.  The  Northern  States 
refuse  to  receive  these  parialis,  therefore  the  alter- 
native of  reducing  them  to  slavery,  by  legislative 
enactments,  is  seriously  agitated  in  the  South  ;  and, 
in  a  fe\Y  Legislatures,  bills  to  tliis  effect  have  been 
already  introduced  and  considered.  ro})ular  senti- 
ment will,  the  more  readily,  sanction  this  method 
of  disposing  of  the  difficulty,  because  of  the  anti- 


INTllODUCTION.  XI 

slavery  agitation  at  tlie  North,  and  the  growing 
demand  for  slave  labor  at  the  South. 

The  colonization  of  this  class,  on  the  Island  ot 
Hayti,  presents  a  much  preferable  way  of  getting 
rid  of  tliem,  and  the  plan  is  of  easy  execution. 
The  Island  is  only  a  few  days  sail  from  all  the 
Southern  sea-ports,  and  the  expense  of  their  trans- 
portation would  scarcely  be  felt  by  the  Southern 
people.  The  slightly  increased  taxes  necessary  for 
this  purpose,  would  be  trebly  compensated — by  the 
removal  of  this  element  of  pauperism,  vice  and  in- 
subordination from  all  contact  with  the  slave  popu- 
lation— by  the  diminished  expenses  of  criminal 
administration  and  patrol  regulations — and  by  cut- 
ting off  a  prominent  agency  of  kidnapping,  incen- 
diarism and  rebellion,  now  wielded  by  abolitionists 
against  Southern  society.  By  this  measure,  all 
])arties  would  be  benefited — the  Southern  States, 
the  Island  of  Hayti,  and  the  free  blacks  themselves. 
The  plan  is  simply  suggested  ;  there  is  no  space  in 
which  to  elaborate  it. 

The  importance  of  redeeming  this  fertile  Island 
from  its  present  waste,  seems  to  be  kept  constantly  in 
view  by  the  Author  ;  and  he  turns  to  the  probability 
of  its  being  seized  by  the  Americans.  It  manifestly 
presents  a  more  inviting  and  open  field  to  their 
enterprise  than  Cuba.  According  to  its  size,  it  is 
superior  in  material  resources  ;  the  whole  coast  is 
exposed  to  attack,  and  its  subjugation  would  be 
easy.     It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  England 


XU  IN  TIIUDUCTION. 

and  France  would  be  willing  to  see  the  United 
States  hold  tlie  Island,  nor  indeed  any  part  of  it. 
Tlie  recent  eflbrts  of  Mr.  Cazeneau  to  obtain  a  treaty 
from  Santana,  granting  important  privileges  to  the 
United  States  in  Spanish  Hay  ti,  were  strenuously  op- 
posed by  the  French  ;  and,  finally,  defeated  through 
their  influence.  There  is  evidently  much  jealousy^ 
on  this  subject,  towards  the  United  States  ;  not, 
that  we  have  shown  any  disposition  to  assume 
sovereignty  over  Hayti,  but,  that  it  is  natural  to 
look,  in  tliis  direction,  for  the  influences  (if  any  are 
to  be  applied)  for  its  salvation  from  impending 
barbarism. 

In  my  view,  the  free  blacks  of  the  United  States 
should  be  made  tlie  medium  through  wliich  the  re- 
forming power  of  our  civilization  can  be  brought 
to  bear  on  the  social  condition  of  Hayti.  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone very  truly  remarks,  that  ^'  trade  is  the 
jnoneer  of  Christianity."  This  truth  is  the  result 
of  sixteen  years  of  missionary  experience  among  the 
wild  tribes  of  Africa  ;  and  it  is  confirmed,  by  the 
history  of  commerce,  the  world  over.  The  patriot 
and  philanthropist,  therefore,  whether  his  sympa- 
thies are  with  the  black  man  or  the  white  man  in 
the  United  States,  must  favor  any  feasible  plan  of 
colonizing  the  free  blacks  heyond  our  limits. 

It  is  objected,  that  the  success  of  this  enterprise 
would  be  to  build  up  a  black  government,  so  near 
our  Southern  States,  as  to  affect  injuriously  the 
slave  population.     If  it  was,  now,  first  proposed  to 


INTRODUCTION.  XUl 

establish  negro  rule  in  Hayti,  the  objection  would 
have  much  force.  But  the  Island  is,  in  fact,  already 
under  a  black  administration  ;  and  the  effect  of 
colonizing  our  free  ncixroes  on  it,  is  limited  to  im- 
proving this  new  Africa,  and  benefiting  the  condi- 
tion of  the  immigrants. 

I  have  been  induced  to  translate  this  work,  be- 
cause of  another  reason.  Eeliable  information,  as 
to  the  practical  working  of  emancipation  in  Hayti, 
is  wanting  to  American  readers.  The  following 
history  is  by  a  Frenchman,  concerning  a  former 
French  colony  ;  his  means  of  correct  information 
are  the  most  abundant,  and  his  motives  for  truth- 
fulness the  highest.  We  may  therefore  accept  his 
picture  as  drawn  to  the  life.  But  what  a  ])icture  ! 
Laocoon  writhing  in  the  deadly  embrace  of  the  ser- 
pent, was  not  more  certainly  doomed  than  are  all 
civilizing  interests  in  Hayti,  in  the  stifling  grasp 
of  African  barbarism. 

We  of  the  Southern  States  are,  specially,  inter- 
ested in  this  matter.  Like  questions  are  being 
stated,  affecting  our  social  institutions  ;  and  simi- 
lar fanatical  agencies  are  seeking  a  like  solution — 
the  solution  of  cruelty  and  blood.  I  desire  to  warn 
the  Southern  people  against  this  result,  by  holding 
up,  before  tbeir  eyes,  the  ludicrous  and  sanguinary 
consequences  of  African  domination. 

These  pages  point  out  the  significant  fact,  that 
the  white  and  hlacJc  racci  canriot  exist  together  as 
equals  in  the  same  community.     Tlie  truth  goes  fur- 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

ther  :  that  even  the  yellow  and  bLack  castes  cannot 
commingle  socially.  Government  becomes,  in  such 
a  condition,  a  question  of  the  dominance  of  races. 
All  other  interests  become  merged  in  this  one  ;  a 
war  of  skins  exhausts  every  element  of  prosperity, 
and  general  ruin  settles  down  upon  the  unhappy 
country.  Applying  these  teachings  .to  the  slavery 
question  in  our  country,  the  conclusion  is  irresisti- 
ble :  that  the  African  race  here,  must  remain  a 
servant  to  the  white  man,  as  a  necessary  condition 
of  the  preservation  of  our  civilization  and  liberties, 
or  be  removed  altogether  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
United  States.  The  latter  alternative  is  scarcely 
possible,  unless  the  wicked  agitators  of  the  land 
shall,  in  their  madness,  hurry  events  to  that  crisis, 
when  the  preservation  of  the  white  race  shall  de- 
mand the  extermination  of  the  black  race.  The 
black  man  would  then  have  changed  his  relation, 
as  a  loyal  servant,  haj)py  and  secure,  under  the 
constant  protection  of  a  christian  master,  to  the 
position  of  our  wild  Indian  tribes — an  outcast  and 
an  Ishmael,  wasted  by  the  ceaseless  aggressions  of 
white  civilization. 

Transpiring  political  events  seem  to  portend  a 
great  social  revolution,  growing  out  of  this  ques- 
tion. It  may  result  in  a  distinct  confederation  of 
the  Southern  States.  Such  a  Government  would 
know  how  to  harmonize  the  social  and  political  in- 
terests, so  deeply  rooted  in  domestic  slavery,  by 
maintaining  the  present  humane  relation  between 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

the  white  master  and  the  Wack  servant.  Every 
patriot  would  deplore  the  disruption  upon  which 
this  new  Confederation  would  be  consequent  ;  but 
self-preservation  is  a  law  of  so  supreme  a  nature, 
as  to  consecrate  all  necessary  means  to  secure  its 
end. 

I  commend  this  work  to  the  reader,  with  the  as- 
surance, that  the  ludicrous  and  the  horrible  will 
spice  the  subject  sufficiently  to  please  the  strongest 
taste.     It  is  Punch  in  Dahomey. 

Baltimore,  1861. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


Qa  pas  bon,  Qa  senti  fumee. — (Emperor  Dcssalincs.) 

The  subject  I  am  about  to  treat,  considered  all 
together,  attracts  and  embarrasses  me.  I  have  to 
speak  of  a  country,  which  has  journals  and  sorcer- 
ers— a  middle  class  and  fetiches;  and,  where  the 
worshippers  of  snakes  have  proclaimed  by  turns, 
*^in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme  Being,"  demo- 
cratic constitutions  and  monarchs  ^^  by  the  grace 
of  God." 

What  I  am  about  to  relate  of  this  country,  and, 
especially,  of  the  Chief  who  rules  it,  falls  far  short 
still,  both  of  what  we  know,  and  could  imagine  of 
the  subject.  But,  in  this  tragi-comedy,  the  conclu- 
sion of  which,  after  all,  will  be  the  condemnation  or 
final  restoration -of  one  of  the  five  human  families, 
is  there  then  only  the  interest  of  curiosity  to  follow? 
Here  my  hesitations  begin.  The  black  world,  from 
which  we  are  about  to  tear  the  veil,  presents,  in- 
deed, in  the  same  incident,  and  often  in  the  same 
man,  such  a  confusion  of  contrasts — civilization  and 
the  Congo — the  touching  and  the  atrocious — the 
ludicrous  and  human  blood,  mingle^  penetrate,  and 


XVlll  AUTHORS     P  11  E  E  A  C  E  . 

jostle  in  it,  with  such  an  improbahle  and  startling 
brutality — that  in  remaining  scrupulously  truthful, 
I  risk  authorizing  at  the  same  time,  the  most  oppo- 
site expectations.  Let  it,  therefore,  be  well  un- 
derstood, in  advance,  that  the  sentiments  which 
guide  me  in  this  recital,  and  the  conclusion  Avhich 
is  developed  from  its  whole,  are  equally  removed 
from  excess  of  optimism,  and  excess  of  negation. 

I  do  not  admit,  for  example,  with  some  stupid 
negropholists,  that  the  facial  angle  is  the  measure 
of  human  duties;  and  that  a  broad  flat  nose  excuses 
certain  abominations.  But,  so  far  from  concluding, 
however,  from  these  abominations,  the  original  in- 
feriority of  the  black  race,  I  see  in  them  the  proof 
of  its  moral  liberty  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  its  perfecti-  . 
bility.  If  this  race  can  descend  to  extreme  per- 
versity, it  can,  therefore,  attain  to  extreme  virtue; 
and,  we  find  it,  in  fact,  at  these  two  degrees  of  the 
moral  scale.  I  do  not  den}",  however,  that  the 
civilizing  aptitude  of  the  negro  has  exceeded  but 
little,  up  to  the  present  time,  certain  instincts  of 
imitation  ;  but  every  civilization  is  not  necessarily 
spontaneous.  In  the  case  of  nine  European  nations 
in  ten,  what  is  it  after  all  but  progress — intelligent 
imitation  ?  That  this  imitation  is  not  always  in- 
telligent in  Hayti — that  this  France,  with  crisped 
hair,  exhibits  in  its  borrowed  accoutrements,  an 
incoherence  burlesque,  or  savage — proves  conclu- 
sively this  fact :  that  we  cannot  go  from  the  river 
Gambia  to  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  in  one  day.    The 


AUTHOR     8     PREFACE.  XIX 

essential  matter  is,  that  tliis  faculty  of  imitation  is 
not  limited.  We  recognise,  infallibly,  the  per- 
fectibility of  nations,  races,  and  species,  only  by 
this  sign:  and  experience  confirms  this  in  Hayti. 
Talents,  which  would  do  honor  to  any  country, 
have  been  produced  among  some  Haytiens,  who, 
before  and  since  the  emancipation,  have  lived  in  our 
intellectual  midst ;  and,  even  among  those,  who 
have  received  the  i-adiation  ai'ar  off. 

Although  Hayti  has  been,  for  the  past  eight 
years,  in  the  full  reaction  of  African  barbarism,  it 
is  repugnant  to  admit,  that  so  many  encouraging 
symptoms  may  be  only  the  derision  of  chance;  and 
that  these  appeals  of  the  last  hour  have  been 
uttered,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  by  the 
breath  of  civilization,  only  to  pass  away,  and  be 
miserably  lost  on  the  Ivory  Coast.  Likewise,  it 
appears  to  us  moreover,  that  the  Empire  of  Sou- 
louque  is  to  be  estimated  neither  better  nor  worse, 
altogether,  than  many  republics  of  the  neighbor- 
ing continent.  If  Spanish  civilization  has  forgot- 
ten itself,  is  it  at  all  astonishing  tliat  sometimes, 
Cafre  barbarism  calls  itself  to  mind?  All  difler- 
ences  of  the  past  being  laid  aside,  Hayti,  has, 
moreover,  an  excuse  that  these  republics  have  not ; 
because,  it  concealed,  beforehand,  in  i(s  own  bosom 
two  elements  of  strife — namely  :  a  minority  of  half- 
whites,  whose  inclinations  and  education  placed 
them  on  a  level  with  French  ideas  ;  and  a  black 
majority,    to  which    despotism  is,   at  once,  an  in- 


XX  A  U  T  II  0  R    S     P  R  E  F  A  C  K  . 

stinctive  'aspiration,  and  a  necessary  transition. 
Each  of  these  elements,  by  turns,  has  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  acclimate  itself  in  the  political  atmosphere 
of  the  other  ;  hence,  a  perpetual  uneasiness,  and 
sometimes,  also,  fever  and  delirium.  If  the  crisis 
is  more  violent  than  ever,  at  the  present  time,  so 
much  tlie  better  perhaps  ;  only  decisive  symptoms 
are  exhibited;  and  there  are  many  cliances  in  favor 
of  health.  Soulouque,  in  w^hom  all  the  reminis- 
cences of  original  savagery  are,  accidentally,  summed 
up,  seems  indeed  guided,  half  by  the  force  of  things, 
and  half  by  his  own  instincts,  to  build  up  on  its 
true  foundations,  this  rudiment  of  nationality. 

These  reservations  being  made,  I  feel  perfectly 
protected  from  every  accusation  of  partiality,  or 
systematic  hostility.  Besides,  now  that  the  very 
basis  of  the  dispute  has  been  decided  by  emanci- 
pation, what  interest  would  there  be  to  remain 
partial  ?  I  will,  therefore,  take  men  and  facts, 
just  as  I  find  them,  and  leave  each  to  produce  its 
own  conclusion,  without  disquieting  myself  to 
know,  whether  they  furnish  reason,  to  benevolence, 
for  laughter  or  horror. 


SOULOUaUE  AND  HIS  EMriRE. 


I. 

Historical  Review — Origin  of  Haylieu  Parties. 

Most  of  the  well  informed  Haytiens,  make  it  a 
sort  of  jioint  of  honor,  to  disguise  as  much  from  the 
stranger,  as  they  do  fiom  themselves,  the  anta- 
gonism which  divides  the  sang-melee,  or  j'ellow 
caste,  from  the  hlack  caste.  I  consider  it  much 
more  useful  to  rectify  the  douhle  misunderstanding 
whence  this  antagonism  springs,  for  Ave  do  not 
destroy  error  by  denying  it.  If,  at  the  present 
time,  Hayti  seems  condemned  to  become  a  branch 
of  the  kingdom  of  Juida — if  each  of  the  two  ele- 
ments which  were  civilizers,  after  their  ftishion,  is 
often  there  transformed  into  an  instrument  of  bar- 
barism— it  is  especially  because  the  facts,  on  all 
sides,  are  not  understood  in  time.  A  historical 
summary  of  the  two  great  Haytien  parties  is  indis- 
pensable, to  the  proper  understanding  of  the  inter- 
ests, passions,  hopes,  and  terrors  which  heave  about 
that  pinchbeck  and  ebony  majesty,  called  Faustin 
1st. 


22  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

Tlie  quarrel  of  tliese  two  castes  readies  back,  even 
to  the  origin  of  Pla^^tien  independence.  Each 
one  of  them  claims  for  itself  alone,  the  work  of  en- 
franchisement^ and  accuses  the  other  of  having, 
from  principle,  covenanted  with  white  oppression. 
Both  are,  at  the  same  time,  right  and  wrong.  The 
truth  is^  the  j^ellow  element  and  the  black  element 
have  both,  equally,  participated  in  the  common 
work  ;  but  each  in  its  time_,  on  its  own  account, 
and  in  the  order,  and  within  the  limits,  assigned  it 
by  the  force  of  things.  As  to  the  initiative,  the 
honor  of  it  does  not  belong  to  either  party.  We 
are  about  to  see  the  revolutionary  shock  pass,  in 
some  sort  fatall}^,  from  above  downward — through 
every  gradation  of  the  old  colonial  society  ;  and  at 
every  pause  which  manifested  itself  in  the  trans- 
mission of  this  movement^  the  metropolis  interfered 
to  accelerate  it. 

In  this  case,  the  real  revolutionary  initiative  be- 
longs to  the  planters.  Not  less  improvident  than 
the  metropolitan  aristocracy,  although  at  bottom 
more  logical,  they  warmly  accepted  and  patronized 
the  ideas,  whence  sprang  1789.  The  enfeeblement 
of  monarchical  authority  was  the  relaxation,  in 
their  favor  especial  1 3^,  of  a  system  which  excluded 
them  from  high  colonial  positions,  and  forced  their 
pride,  and  their  habitudes  of  despotism,  to  bow  be- 
fore the  almost  discretionary  power  of  the  metro- 
politan agents.  Civic  equality,  in  their  estima- 
tion, was  the  complete  assimilation  of  the  colony  to 


SOULOUQUB    AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  23 

France,  and  tlie  free  exercise  of  the  means  of  action, 
which  their  immense  Avealth  appeared  to  secure 
them.  It  was  in  this  sense  tliat  they  interpreted 
the  convocation  of  our  States-General.  Without 
waitino;  for  the  authorization  of  the  Government, 
the  colonists  formed  themselves  into  parish  and 
provincial  assemhlies^  and  sent  to  Paris  eighteen 
deputies,  who  were  admitted,  some  by  right,  and 
others  as  petitioners.  Over  excited  hy  this  first 
success, -these  pretensions  to  political  and  adminis- 
trative equality  transformed  themselves,  very  soon, 
among  the  colonial  aristocracy,  into  open  opinions 
of  independence.  The  provincial  assemblies  dele- 
gated, the  direction  of  the  interior  affairs  of  the 
colony,  to  a  sort  of  convention,  which  met  together 
at  Saint- Marc ;  and  this  body,  (in  which  the  plan- 
ters' influence  Avas  dominant)  declared  itself  con- 
stituted hy  virtue  of  the  j^oiver  of  their  constitue'iits ; 
contrary  to  the  advice  of  the  minority,  which  pro- 
posed saying,  ^'  In  virtue  of  the  decrees  of  the  me- 
tropolis!'' 

But,  at  the  side  of  this  aristocracy,  Avere  found  the 
whites  of  the  inferior  and  middling  classes,  who 
especially  welcomed,  in  the  new  opinions,  an  advent 
of  civil  and  social  equality.  These  two  classes 
could  not  hesitate  between  the  feudal  oligarchy, 
which  the  planters  had  a  glimpse  of  in  their  dreams 
of  independence,  and  a  share  in  the  conquests  al- 
ready realized  by  the  metropolitan  liberalism  ;  they 
took  a  stand  for  the  mother  country.     The  planters 


24  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.    ' 

very  quickly  changed  their  tactics.  They  pretended 
to  renounce  their  projects  of  independence  ;  armed 
themselves  against  the  metropolitan  influence  of 
demagoguic  ideas,  and  thus  succeeded  in  organiz- 
ing for  themselves,  out  of  the  dregs  of  the  white 
population,  a  numerous  party.  But  Governor  Pei- 
nier,  supported  hy  the  sound  portion  of  the  colonial 
middle  class,  dispersed  the  insurrectionary  Assem- 
bly of  Saint-Marc. 

At  this  conjuncture,  a  third  element  appeared 
on  the  scene  ;  and  proceeded  to  take,  in  relation  to 
the  entire  white  population,  the  role  which  the 
colonial  middle-class  had  assumed  with  reference 
to  the  planters.  Whilst  the  colonists  discussed 
liberty  and  equality,  the  manumitted  slaves  did 
not  stop  up  their  ears.  They  had  more  reason  than 
any  of  the  other  classes,  to  see  in  the  revolution  a 
benefit ;  because,  the  suspicious  susceptibility  of 
colonial  prejudice  took  delight  in  rendering  the 
desti notion  between  them  especially  wounding  and 
harsh,  for  the  reason,  that  by  their  color  (two-thirds 
of  them  being  sang-melee)  their  education,  and  their 
quality  as  free-men  and  proprietors,  they  were 
brought  into  immediate  contact  with  the  white 
class.  The  'decree  of  the  8th  of  March,  1790,  con- 
ferred upon  them,  in  fact,  some  political,  rights  ; 
but  this  decree  excited,  in  all  ranks  of  the  white 
population,  so  much  dissatisfaction,  that  the  Gov- 
ernor himself  concurred  in  preventing  the  execu- 
tion of  it.     The  manumitted  slaves  had  in  vain 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  25 

tdken  np  arms  in  favor  of  the  metropolis,  in  the 
struggle,  sustained  by  the  Governor,  against  the 
colonial  aristocracy.  The  latter,  after  the  victory, 
did  not  behave  the  least  well  towards  them  ;  in- 
deed, he  pushed  his  dislike  so  far,  as  to  refuse  them 
the  right  to  wear  the  white  pompoon,  which  served 
to  distinguish  the  royalist  party.  The  raulattoes 
abandoned  this  party  ;  and  a  new  decree,  by  which 
the  Constituent  Assembly  repealed  the  decree  of 
tlie  8th  of  March,  completed  the  rupture.  I  can 
only  recite,  from  memory,  the  revolt  of  the  mu- 
lattocs,  0(/e,  CJiavannes,  and  Bigaiid, 

A  third  decree  restored,  to  the  manumitted  slaves, 
their  rights ;  new  resistance  was  made  by  the 
whites.  The  demagoguic  party  rebelled  against 
authority  ;  the  aristocratic  party,  or  the  indepen- 
dents, offered  the  Colony  to  England  ;  the  royalists, 
(juite  as  hostile  to  the  mulattoes  as  the  two  other 
parties,  could  devise  no  better  plan  of  holding  the 
planters  in  check,  than  by  secretly  exciting  the 
blacks  to  revolt;  and  the  mulattoes,  who,  on  their  side 
had  again  taken  up  arms,  to  maintain  their  rights 
against  the  white  caste,  reaped  all  the  benefit  of 
this  intervention  of  the  blacks,  among  whom  they 
even  made  numerous  recruits. 

I  will  not  relate  over  again  this  bloody  imhroglio^ 
in  which  the  three  white  factions  (ibr,  in  the  colo- 
nies, as  well  as  in  France,  the  royalist  party  itself 
was  already  condemned  to  play  the  part  of  a  fac- 
tion,) found   themselves,  successively,  reduced  to 


26  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE. 

the  necessity  of  treating,  as  equal  with  equal,  with 
the  manumitted  slaves.  One  fact  is,  here,  promi- 
nent above  every  otlier :  tlie  new  citizens,  feeling 
that  their  only  point  of  support  was  in  the  metro- 
polis, had  the  address,  or  the  good  faith,  Avhich  is 
often  all  one,  to  remain  faithful  to  it.  It  thus 
happened  that  they  became  for  the  time,  as  to  the 
commissioners  charged  with  pacifying  the  Island, 
what  the  white  middle -class  had  been  to  Governor 
Peinier — the  only  colonial  auxiliaries  of  French  in- 
fluence ;  so  that  the  final  triumph  of  metropolitan 
authority  resulted,  necessarily,  in  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  men  of  color. 

The  colored  class  is  severely  reproached  for  ne- 
glecting, at  the  outset,  to  stipulate  any  thing  in 
favor  of  the  slaves  ;  and,  what  is  more,  for  having 
injuriously  affected  to  separate  their  interests  from 
those  of  the  black  population.  Indeed,  the  mixed- 
blood,  Julien  Raymond,*  appealing  to  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  in  behalf  of  the 
men  of  color,  made  a  merit  of  their  composing  the 
criminal  police  of  the  colony  ;  and,  in  this  capa- 
city hunting  after  runaway  negroes.  He  repre- 
sented the  men  of  color  as  the  real  rampart  of 
colonial  society  ;  and  protested,  with  force,  that 
they  had  no  interest  in  exciting  the  slaves  to  revolt. 


*The  same  individual  afterwards  asked  at  tlie  tribune  of  the 
Convention  tlie  liberty  of  the  blacks,  as  a  natural  consequence  of 
the  civic  equality  accorded  to  his  caste. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  27 

inasmucli  as  tliey  owned  this  kind  of  property 
themselves.  Oge,  with  arms  in  his  hands,  held 
nearly  the  same  language  ;  and,  ohstinately  re- 
pelled the  proposition,  which  his  companion,  Cha- 
vannes,  made  to  him,  to  wit:  to  excite  the  slaves 
in  the  workshops  to  rehellion.  This  is  the  accu- 
sation :  that  Raymond  and  Oge  acted,  knowingly 
or  not.  as  very  clever  aholitionists.  Can  it  he  pro- 
ved, if  required  ? 

Could  the  mulattoes,  reasonably,  have  begun,  by 
proclaiming  their  soUdai^ife  with  the  black  caste? 
But  it  was  this  very  community  of  interest,  which 
the  adversaries  of  their  civic  rehabilitation  de- 
nounced and  developed.  These  objected,  with  rea- 
son, that  the  prejudice  of  skin  was  the  most  power- 
ful safeguard  of  society,  and  of  colonial  property  ; 
and,  that  this  obstacle  being  once  removed,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  enfranchised  class,  there  was  no  rea- 
son why  the  black  tide  would  not  overflow  at  the 
same  issue.  Most  of  the  mulattoes  affected  to  sep- 
arate themselves  from  the  slaves,  that  they  might 
serve  the  common  cause  better.  In  proceeding 
otherwise,  the  colored  class  w^ould  have  necessarily 
failed,  and  the  negroes  would  have  gained  only 
one  thing :  that  is,  to  have  remained  separated 
from  liberty  by  two  removes,  in  place  of  one. 

But,  at  first,  did  the  blacks  desire  liberty  ?  Did 
they  even  comprehend  the  meaning  of  it?  On 
their  part,  this  is  what  is  denied  them  ;  and,  at 
first  view,  this  accusation  is  much  more  tenable. 


28  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

tlian  those,  from  which  we  are  about  to  exculpate 
the  yellow  caste.     In  their  struggles  against  the 
mulattoes,  the  confederated  whites  armed  a  portion 
of  their  slaves;  and  the  African  companies,  as  they 
were  called,  tortured  and  massacred   with   fury, 
these  very  mulattoes,  who  nevertheless  had  come 
to  open  the  way  to  the  black  race.     The  mulatto 
p|ty,  which  in  their  turn,  had  armed  their  own 
pSk|iile,  gave  liberty  to  the  principals;  but  the  new 
freed  men  thought  they  could  not  better  attest  their 
gratitude  for  this,  than  by  returning  their  com- 
panions to  slavery,  which  act  did  not  provoke  the 
least  protestation.     At  the  affair  of  the  Croix-des- 
Bouquets,  where  fifteen  thousand  blacks  (this  time 
veritable  insurgents,  for  they  had  been  principally 
recruited  from  the  workshops  of  the  whites)  gave 
the    victory  to   the   colored   class.      Was   it   still 
emancipation   that   they    sought?       Was    it   the 
magic  word  liberty,  which  precipitated  these  un- 
armed and  half-naked  Congos,  under  the  horses 
feet,    to  which  they  clung  ;   hurled  them  on  the 
bayonet  points,  which  they  seized  with  their  teeth; 
and  crowded  them  on  the  mouths  of  the  loaded 
cannon,  into  which  they  thrust  their  arms,  until 
they  touched  the  balls,  exclaiming  in  an  excess  of 
silly  hilarity  to  be  speedily  interrupted  by  the  ex- 
plosion, which  scattered  them  to  fragments  :   ^'lloe 
trape  li!  "  (I  have  caught  it,  I  hold  it?)     No  !  it 
was  a  bull's  tail — an  enchanted  tail,  it  is  true — 
which  their  chief,  Hyacintlie,  who  knew  his  world, 


SOULOUQUE  AND  IIIS  EMPIRE.  29 

branclisbed  tliroiigh  their  ranks,  for  the  purpose  of 
turning  aside  the  cannon  balLs,  and  changing  the 
bullets  to  dust. 

I  leave  the  reader  to  imagine  what  carnage  was 
made  of  these  unhappy  creatures.  But  the  sorcer- 
ers, who  formed  the  staff  of  Hyacinthe,  immedi- 
ately, proclaimed  with  loud  cries,  that  the  dead 
revived  again  in  Africa  ;  and  a  new  human  offer- 
ing rushed  joyously  to  add  itself  to  that  bed  of 
corpses.*  These  credulous  heroes — (who  can  deny 
them  this  title  ?) — were  at  bottom  much  less  re- 
vengers of  their  race,  than  devotees  to  some  gloomy 
African  rite  brought  direct  from  Cape  Lopez,  or 
Cape  Negre  ;  and  as  tradition  is  perpetuated  still 
from  house  to  house,  and  in  the  mysterious  con- 
venticles of  Vaudoux.-\  The  fete  having  termi- 
nated, the  survivors  returned,  peaceably,  to  their 
labor  as  slaves,  at  the  order  of  Hyacinthe,  and 
without  demanding  their  profit  in  the  affair. 

In  tlie  meanwhile,  it  is  true,  the  pure  negro  ele- 
ment^  the  insurgents  of  the  Northern  province, 

■•■•  This  belief,  in  the  migration  of  body  and  soul,  caused  so  many 
suicides  among  the  slaves  of  the  Gold  Coast,  especially  the  Ibos, 
that  the  planters  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  strange  expedi- 
ent to  prevent  it.  They  cut  off",  either  the  head,  or  the  nose  and 
ears,  of  the  suicide,  and  nailed  thera  to  a  stake.  The  other  Ibos, 
ashamed  at  the  idea  of  appearing  in  their  country  without  these 
natural  ornaments,  were  resigned  not  to  hang  themselves. 

t  A  kind  of  African  frcc-niasonry,  of  which  Sonlouque  is  one  of 
the  high  dignitaries.  We  will  see  it  reappear  in  the  later  events  of 
llayti. 


30  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

which  the  royalist  party  were  already  frightened 
in  having  let  loose,  refused  to  disperse.  But,  what 
retained  these  hands  under  the  authority  of  Jean- 
Francois,  Biassou,  and  Jeannot,  was  much  less  the 
thirst  for  liberty,  than  the  fear  of  punishment, 
(which  they  deserved  for  their  robberies),  and  the 
prestige,  which  the  gloomy,  and  grotesque  para- 
phernalia  of  African  sorcery,  still  exercised  over 
them. 

After  the  example  of  Hyacinthe,  "  Biassou  sur- 
rounded himself  with  sorcerers,  and  magicians, 
and  formed  his  council  of  them.  His  tent  was 
filled  with  little  cats  of  all  colors^  snakes,  bones 
of  the  dead,  and  all  other  objects,  which  were 
symbols  of  African  superstition.  During  the 
night,  great  fires  were  kindled  in  his  camp;  naked 
women  performed  horrible  dances  around  them, 
making  frightful  contortions,  and  chanting  words, 
which  are  only  understood,  in  the  deserts  of  Afri- 
ca. When  the  excitement  reached  its  height,  Bi- 
assou, followed  by  his  sorcerers,  presented  himself 
to  the  crowd,  and  exclaimed,  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  inspired  him.  He  announced  to  the  Africans 
that,  if  they  fell  in  battle,  they  would  reappear 
alive  in  their  old  African  tribes.  Then  frightful 
cries  would  echo  far  through  tlie  forest ;  the 
chants,  and  the  sombre  tambours  recommenced  ; 
and  Biassou,  profiting  b}^  these  moments  of  frenzy, 
hurled  his  bands  against  the  enemy,  whom  he  sur- 


SOULOT'QIIE    AND    HIS   EMPTRK.  81 

]n'ised  in  tlie  dead  of  night."  (Histoire  d'Ha'iti, 
1847.) 

Jean-Francois  and  Biassou  knew  this  so  well  that 
they  proposed  to  enslave  again  their  innumerable 
hordes,  in  consideration  of  six  hundred  exemptions. 
They  aimed  so  little  at  exercising  an  apostleship 
over  the  race,  that  they  sold,  without  ceremony,  to 
the  Spaniards,*  negroes,  who  were  not  insurgents — 
men,  women  and  children,  who  fell  into  their  ])ower. 

They  did  not  act  much  more  liberally  towards 
their  own  soldiers,  who  were  subjected  to  a  dis- 
cipline, hut  little  less  hard  than  slavery,  and  over 
whom  they  arrogated  the  right  of  life  and  death. 
This  is  not  all  :  for  whilst  the  small  party  led 
by  the  old  freed-men — I  am  far  from  saying  all  the 
old  freed-men — strove  to  show  themselves  worthy 
of  the  social  restoration  for  which  they  fought,  the 

*The  author  we  are  about  to  cite,  reproduces  the  following  letter, 
in  which,  Jean-Francois  asks  an  agent  of  the  Spanish  Government 
for  authority  to  sell  the  joung  Negroes,  who  were  his  prisoners. 
To  M.  Tabert: 

CGmmamktnt  of  His  Majesty. 

"Humbly  praying  Mr.  Jean-Francois,  Chevalier  of  the  Royal  Or- 
ihr  of  St.  Louis,  ami  Admiral  of  tlie  ichole  French  portion  of  subjuga- 
ted Saint-Domingo^  that,  having  sovaa  very  trouhlcsofne  snh]aci&,  and 
not  having  the  heart  to  destroy  thein,  we  have  recourse  to  your  good 
7cill,  to  ask  that  you  will  allow  them  to  pass,  tliat  they  may  be  re- 
moved from  the  country.  We  prefer  to  sell  them  for  the  benefit  of  the 
king,  and  eraploj'  the  proceeds  in  making  purchases  of  necessaries  for 
the  army,  encamped  for  the  defense  of  His  Majesty's  rights." 

Let  us  render  this  justice  to  the  excellent  heart  of  Jean-Francois, 
///<//  a  civilized  person  could  not  have  used  more  hypocrii^y. 


32  SulLOlUUE    AND    MIS    KMI'IRR. 

black  chiefs,  on  the  contrary,  seem  to  have  been 
careful  to  place  in  relief  the  original  task  of  bru- 
tality and  savagery,  with  which  their  caste  is  re- 
proached. 

Jean-Francois,  the  most  cultivated,  humane^  and 
hypocritical  of  the  band — Jean-Francois,  who  died 
a  general  officer  in  the  Spanish  service,  formed  a 
harem  for  himself  of  his  white  female  prisoners, 
and  surrendered  to  his  officers  and  soldiers  all  those 
of  whom  he  grew  tired. 

Jeannot  violated  the  vouns;  white  2:irls,  in  the 
presence  of  their  families,  and  immediately  after- 
wards slew  them.  His  standard  was  the  dead  body 
of  a  white  child,  borne  on  the  point  of  a  })ike. 
His  tent  was  surrounded  by  a  hedge  of  lances,  each 
one  of  which  bore  the  head  of  a  white  person,  and 
all  the  trees  in  his  camp  were  furnished  with  hooks, 
from  which  hung  by  the  chin  other  white  bodies. 
He  also  sawed  up  his  prisoners  between  two  planks, 
and  either  amputated  the  feet  of  those  he  found  too 
long,  or  stretched  others  six  inches  whom  lie  found 
too  short.  When  Jeannot  would  say  good  humor- 
edly,  '^  I  am  thirsty,"  a  new  head  was  cut  off,  the 
blood  squeezed  into  a  vase,  some  rum  added,  and 
he  drank  the  revolting  mixture. 

I  can  only  speak  from  memory  of  Biassou,  who 
contented  himself  with  burning  his  prisoners  over 
a  slow  lire,  and  tearing  out  their  eyes  with  forceps. 

We  have  reason  to  be  disgusted  at  certain  liberal 
and  humanitarian  antiphrases  of  the  epoch  in  ques- 


.SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIKE.  33 

tioii  ;  but  frankly,  tliese  traders  in  black  fle.sb,  and 
carvers  of  white  flesh— these  strange  regenerators, 
half  satyr,  half  wolf,  seemed   to  give  themselves 
little  care,  (as  little,  as  the  stupid  crowd,  by  turns, 
let  loose,  or  terrified  by  their  voice,)  to  furnish  ar- 
guments for  the  Abolition  Society  of  Paris.     Be- 
sides, upon  which  side  was  Jean-Francois  and  Bias- 
sou  ranged  ?     On  the  side  of  the  emigrants  and  of 
Spain  ;  on  the  side  of  the  old  regime  and  of  slavery ; 
against  the  revolution,  which  openly  prepared  the 
abolition  of  slavery;  but  which  in  i)roclaiming  it 
could  not  detach  from  the  enemy  either  of  these 
two  black  chiefs,  or  the  body  of  their  army.     Such 
was  the  fate  of  the  blacks.     The  latter  were  only 
inert    brutes,    who    fought   stupidly    for    the    first 
wh.o  armed  them,  without  enquiring  after  liberty  ; 
the  former,  were  but  perverted  brutes,  who  fought 
knowingly  against  liberty,  the  voluntary  agents  of 
their  own  degradation— to  speak  the  whole  truth, 
Negro  legitimists ^^     This  term  may  appear  liai'sh, 
but  we  have  very  deliberately  applied  it. 

Let  us,  however,  look  to  the  bottom  of  things, 
and  see,  if  under  all  this  stupidity  of  courage— this 
automatic  indifference,  this  savagery,  these  abomi- 

*Their  chiefs  wrote  to  the  commissioners  of  the  Republic,  "We 
cannot  conform  to  the  will  of  the  nation,  because,  since  the  world 
begun,  we  have  only  obeyed  that  of  the  kinp;.  We  have  lost  the 
king  of  France,  but  we  cherish  the  king  of  Si)ain,  who  gives  us  evi- 
dence of  his  favor  by  rewards,  and  never  ceases  to  succor  us. 
Therefore,  we  cannot  recognize  you  as  commissioners  until  you 
havp  fduud  a  kiiKj'."' 


34  SOULOLQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

nations — to  see,  if  under  this  negro  legitimism — 
there  were  not  some  real  instincts  of  social  recon- 
struction and  of  liberty. 

And  first,  generally,  as  to  those  nations  which 
are  struggling,  what  is  the  striking  and  enviable 
aspect  of  liberty  ?  Above  all,  the  right  to  concjuer 
and  not  to  be  vanquished.  The  blacks  who  fought 
with  such  good  will  for  the  planters,  achieved  lib- 
erty after  their  fashion.  In  becoming  soldiers,  they 
saw  themselves  rise,  by  a  step,  in  the  human  hier- 
archy ;  they  found  themselves  assimilated  to  the 
liberated  class,  which,  alone  had  been  admitted  into 
the  colonial  companies.  With  regard  to  the  blacks 
transported  from  Africa,  in  particular,  and  who 
had  never  read  the  social  contract,  what  could  lib- 
erty mean  to  them?  Evidently  the  condition  which 
had  preceded  slavery  ;  the  right  to  live  as  they  had 
done  in  Africa — to  have  themselves  killed  for  cows' 
tails,  white  cocks,  and  black  cats,  and  to  carry  in 
their  arms  chiefs  adorned  with  plumes,  and  avIio 
have  the  right  of  life  and  death  over  them.* 
Among  these  poor  slaves,  who  seemed  to  wish  only 
to  change  their  chains,  tliere  was  therefore  not 
merely  an  awakening  of  individual  liberty,  but 
what  is  more,  a  confused  awakening  of  nationality. 

As  to  the  black  chiefs,  finally,  the  ne  plus  ultra 
of  liberty,  and  of  human  dignity,  was  evidently  to 
do  what  the  white  chiefs  did — that  is,  to  have 
clothes  broidered  with  lace,  to  own  slaves,  and  to 

*This  is  what  was  practiced  in  the  army  of  Hyacinthe. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  35 

sleep  with  white  women  ;  and  this  is  why  Jean- 
Francoisj  Biassou  and  Jeannot  sohl  negroes,  vio- 
lated white  Avomen,  and  wore  so  much  lace.  It 
was,  throughout  the  declaration  of  tlie  rights  of 
man,  but  translated  into  Mandingo,  and  some  little 
imi)ressed  to  suit  the  occasion,  with  the  uncultiva- 
ted ferocity  of  the  translators.  Besides,  in  point 
of  cruelty,  the  whites,  in  their  terrible  reprisals 
against  the  black  insurgents,  furnished,  more  than 
once^  to  the  latter  an  excuse  for  the  spirit  of  imi- 
tation. 

The  insurgents  of  the  North  were  again,  from 
their  point  of  view,  very  logical,  when  they  called 
themselves  the  king's  people,  and  united  with  the 
counter-revolutionists.  Tlie  two  great  fractions  of 
the  revolutionary  party  of  Saint-Domingo,  were,  as 
we  have  seen,  equally  hostile  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  ;  and  is  it  at  all  wonderful,  that  the  blacks, 
seeing  they  had  the  same  enemies  as  the  king, 
identified  their  interests  with  his  ? 

The  confusion,  (if  there  was  really  here  any  con- 
fusion) was  so  much  the  more  excusable,  because 
the  authority  of  the  king  and  his  agents,  revealed 
itself  less  to  the  slaves,  as  a  protector,  than  as  a 
mediator  between  them,  and  the  severity  or  cupidity 
of  their  masters.  The  royal  justice  being  like 
christian  equality,  their  only  point  of  contact 
with  common  right — was  it  reasonable  to  expect 
from  it  only  a  revolution,  which  had,  (according  to 
their  expression),  ^'assassinated  the  King  of  France, 


36  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

Jesus  Christj  and  the  Holy  Virgin."  Besides,  tliey 
knew,  from  good  authority,  that  the  King  of  Congo, 
armed  himself  against  the  republicans,  in  the 
depths  of  the  mountains  which  concealed  this  fugi- 
tive Africa.  Toussaint  Louverture,  was  the  very 
first  to  believe  this  a  long  time.  Tlie  black  chief, 
Macaya,  who,  having  been  dispatched  to  Jean- 
Francois  and  Biassou,  for  the  purpose  of  converting 
them  to  republicanism,  but  returned  converted  by 
them,  construed  therefore  again,  in  his  own  way, 
the  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man,  when  he  ex- 
plained to  Commissioner  Polverel,  his  defection, 
thus : 

'^1  am  the  subject  of  three  kings :  of  the  King  of 
Congo,  who  is  master  of  all  the  blacks — of  tlie 
King  of  France,  Avho  represents  my  father — and  of 
the  King  of  Spain,  who  represents  my  mother: 
these  three  kings  are  the  descendants  of  those, 
who,  guided  by  a  star,  went  to  adore  the  God- 
Man." 

This  is  not  so  bad,  for  a  Congo.  Altogether, 
there  was  only  a  misapprehension  in  this  matter. 
And  when  Commissioner  Sonthonax  abolished 
slavery,  the  transj^orts  of  thanks  and  joy^*  which 

•••The  proclamation  of  general  lil^crty  was  published,  in  all  parts 
of  the  North  where  the  authorit}'"  of  the  Republic  prevailed,  by  mu- 
nicipal officers,  preceded  \)y  a  hcmnet  rouge,  borne  on  the  end  of  a 
pike,  and  excited  in  the  people  an  enthusiasm,  which  amounted  to 
delirium.  The  younger  Boisrond,  a  man  of  color,  and  one  of  tlie 
intermediary  commissioners,  instructed  by  Sonihonax  to  make  this 
proclamation,  saw  the  country  people  assembled  in  mass,  and  run  be- 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  37 

welcomed  his  proclamation,  and  the  explosions  of 
anger  which  Commissioner  Polverel  provoked,  by 
endeavoring  to  procure  some  restrictions^  (other- 
wise very  proj^er),  upon  the  enfranchisement,  j^rove 
that  the  mass  of  the  black  population,  fully  com- 
prehended the  value  of  liberty. 

Tlie  greater  number  of  the  bands  of  Jean-Fran- 
cois themselves_,  enlightened  by  Toussaint  as  to 
their  true  interests,  followed  the  defection  of  the 
latter,  some  months  later,  and  became  enthusiastic 
auxiliaries  of  the  republic. 

The  two  oppressed  classes,  finally  remained 
masters  of  the  field,  and  each  of  them  brought  a 
decisive  concourse,  to  the  common  victory.  The 
yellow  race,  in  opening  a  breach  in  the  prejudice 
of  color,  showed  the  way  to  the  blacks  ;  and  this 
yellow  race,  in  their  turn,  aided  by  their  black 
auxiliaries,  did  not  fail  in  their  second  rebellion 
against  the  whites.  It  was  not  until  then  that 
the  remembrance  of  their  partial  antagonism, 
only  became,  for  the  old  and  new  freed-men,  a 
motive  of  thankfulness  and  union  ;   for  each  caste 

fore  liim,  from  village  to  village.  These  new  and  impressionable 
men  appeared  doubtful  of  so  much  happiness;  they  made  bridges 
over  the  streams  along  his  route,  of  thick  oak  plank  which  they  had 
brought  on  their  heads  more  than  •three  leagues,  and  covered  the 
earth  with  leaves  from  the  trees.  The  name  of  Sonthonax  was 
blessed;  they  called  him  the  Bon  Dieu.  From  Port-de-Paix  to 
Gros-Morne,  Boisrond  was  borne  en  chaise  formed  of  men's  arms, 
along  a  way  in  direct  line,  opened  in  a  few  hours  through  the  woods, 
(Madiou'j  Ilistoire  d'llaiti). 


38  SOULOUQTTE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

found  tliey  had  served  the  interests  of  the  other  by 
combating  it.  But  for  the  support  given  by  the 
negroes  of  the  North,  to  the  white  factions,  the 
agents  of  the  metropolis  Avouhl  not  have  been  led, 
in  order  to  make  head  against  this  additional 
danger,  to  depend,  on  their  part,  n})on  the  old  free 
people — to  the  increase  of  their  importance — and 
the  personification,  in  them,  by  turns,  of  French 
influence,  and  the  triumph  of  that  influence.  With- 
out the  support  given,  by  the  old  free  people,  to 
the  metro j)olis  against  the  black  insurgents,  and 
their  white  instigators,  Saint-Domingo  would  have 
become,  the  prey  of  the  independents,  who  appealed 
to  the  English,  and  of  the  counter-revolutionists, 
who  appealed  to  Spain;  that  is  to  say,  of  twoparties, 
and  of  two  countries,  equally,  hostile  to  emanci- 
pation. 

This  is  the  reason,  why  it  would  have  been  im- 
portant for  them  to  have  come  to  an  understand- 
ing ;  they  did  not  have  time  for  it.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  distinction  of  color  would  extinguish 
itself,  and  that  the  two  classes  could  never  hold 
together,  on  this  soil,  so  much  shaken,  without  its 
sinking  under  one  of  them.  At  the  very  mo- 
ment, when  their  past,  and  future  seemed  to  be 
confounded  in  a  common  interest,  the  struggle 
broke  forth  anew,  this  time,  general,  inexorable, 
and  mortal,  between  the  yellow  and  black  races. 

Two  events  were  developed  after  the  emancipa- 
tion.    Some  old  freed-men,  who  were  themselves 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  39 

owners  of  slaves,  cast  tliemselves,  by  reason  of  cupid- 
ity and  revenge,  into  tlie  arms  of  the  English.  A 
little  later,  a  few  black  officers,  (until  then  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  republic,  but  jealous  of  the  joreference, 
whicli  the  niulattoes  had  obtained,  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  grades,  by  their  superior  instruction,  and 
their  long  services,)  imitated  the  treason  of  the  old 
freed-men.  These  shameful  exceptions  were  not 
blamable  to  eitlier  caste  ;  and  besides,  the  responsi- 
bility of  them,  Avas  reciprocal.  But  that  the 
least  enlightened  of  the  two  should  be  the  most 
suspicious  was  natural ;  but  tlie  blacks,  whose 
mistrust,  tlie  jilanters  had  excited  by  hatred,  only 
saw,  in  this  double  treason,  that  of  the  men  of 
color.  They  repeated  to  the  newly  liberated  slaves, 
that  these  latter  were  tlie  partisans  of  slavery  ; 
that  they  never  desired  civil  and  political  rights, 
but  for  themselves  alone  and  to  increase  still  more, 
the  distance,  which  separated  them  from  the  blacks. 
Isolated  facts,  which  seemed  to  corroborate  this  ac- 
cusation, were  easily  adduced .  The  newly  liberated 
slaves  would  give  the  more  willing  heed  to  this,  be- 
cause in  Xhe  old  colonial  society,  contempt  for  the 
enfranchised  class  was,  often,  reproduced  in  the 
slaves.     And  what  is  there  surprising  in  this? 

Plaving  to  bear  the  wliole  burden  of  the  preju- 
dices against  color_, could  the  enfrancliised  class  resist 
the  temptation  of  reaping  the  benefit  of  it.  It  was, 
only,  in  withdrawing  tliemselves  from  the  blacks, 
that   tlicy  drew  nearer  to  the  privileged  race.     It 


40  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

was  useless  to  say,  that  tlieir  roles  were  completely 
changed  ;  and  that  from  the  day,  the  enfranchised 
class  hecame  citizens — that  is  politically  and  civilly 
equal  to  this  race — the  prejudice  of  color,  could  no 
longer  manifest  itself  to  them  hut  in  its  wounding 
features.  It  was  their  highest  interest  to  have  this 
only  cause  of  social  inferiority  forgotten  which 
weighed  thenceforth  upon  them  ;  to  efface  the  very 
germ  of  distinctions,  which  they  could  not  have 
maintained  helow,  without  authorizing  them  ahove ; 
to  restore,  in  a  word,  this  African  blood,  which  after 
all,  flowed  in  their  veins.  But  these  half-savage 
masses  could  neither  see  so  far,  nor  so  justly  ;  and 
Sonthonax  finally  spoiled  all,  by  appearing  to 
notice  only  in  the  isolated  defections  abovemen- 
tioned,  those  of  the  people  of  color. 

The  principal  mulatto  chiefs,  Yillate,  Bauvais, 
Monbrun_,  and  Bigaud,  who  did  not  show  them- 
selves less  irritated  and  severe  than  himself,  against 
the  traitors  of  their  caste,  were  naturally  wounded 
by  this  partiality.  Sonthonax,  in  his  turn,  thought 
he  saw  in  their  discontent,  much  too  vividly  ex- 
pressed moreover,  the  symptoms  of  new  defections; 
and  in  order  to  neutralize  the  old  free  people  of 
color,  he  finally  denounced  them,  openly,  as  the 
enemies  of  the  republic,  and  the  blacks  ;  at  the 
same  time,  he  affected  to  give  tliese  last,  all  his 
confidence.  We  can  comprehend  what  frightful 
echoes,  an  imputation  found  in  the  African  masses, 
which  was  guarantied  by  the  Bon~Dieu  Sonthonax 


SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS   EMPIRE.  41 

himself.       More   and   more    embittered    and   dis- 
couraged, by  these  suspicions,  some  of  the  muhatto 
chiefs,  came  very  near  justifying  them.     Monbrun 
and  Bauvais,  by  the  inefficiency  of  their  operations, 
seemed    to   connive  at   the   English  ;    Villate,   on 
his  part,  provoked    an    emeute    against  Governor 
Laveaux,  and  had  him  arrested,  with  the  view  of 
putting  himself  in  his  place.     Toussaint  hastened, 
with  ten  thousand  blacks,  to  rescue  Laveaux,  who 
proclaimed  him  the  "Messiah  of  the  black  race," 
and   made   him   his    Lieutenant.     A   little  after, 
Toussaint  was  promoted  to  the  grade  of  General  of 
Division  ;   this,  placed,   all  the  colored  generals, 
under  the  orders  of  an  ex-colonel  of  the  bands  of 
Jean-Francois.     One  of  them,  Andre  Rigaud,  who 
had  not  ceased  to  give  brilliant  proofs  of  his  devo- 
tion to  the  republic,  was  indignant  at  this  injus- 
tice ;  and,  while  remaining  wholly  faithful  to  the 
metropolis,  which  had  too  slowly  given  him  its 
confidence,  he  refused  to  surrender  the  South,  where 
lie  commanded,  to  the  authority  of  Toussaint.     It 
was  not  merely  a  question  of  priority  ;  but  the  lat- 
ter, maintained  in  his  distrust,  by  French  agents, 
by  the  English,  and  especially  by  the  planters,  who 
had  already  adopted  this  black  Caussidiere,  saw  in 
it  but  the  susceptibility  of  caste — the  contempt  of 
the  mulatto  lor  the  African.     The  extermination 
of  what  was  already  called,  by  him,  the  aristocracy 
of  skin,  became,  thenceforth,  his  fixed  idea,  and 
publicly  avowed.     After  bloody  turns  of  fortune, 


42  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

during  which ,  most  of  the  men  of  color  finally 
grouped  themselves  about  Rigaud,  the  latter  was 
expelled  by  his  black  competitor,  who  massacred 
some  thousands  of  the  mulattoes. 

Such  was  the  first  act  of  that  war  of  color,  which 
continues  to  this  day  in  Hayti.  Was  this  for  the 
benefit  of  the  mongrel  class,  who  took  the  initiative 
in  it,  as  certain  negrophilists  have  repeated  with  so 
much  affectation  ?  The  mistake  whence  this  war 
sprang  was,  at  least,  equal  on  both  sides  ;  but  it 
was  the  black  chief  alone,  (let  us  state  it  correctly^) 
who  armed  with  rancors  of  caste,  threw  himself 
between  the  old  free  colored  people,  and  the  newly 
liberated  slaves,  for  the  purpose  of  dividing  them. 
This  is  not  all;  in  spite  of  the  ferocious  obstinancy 
of  Toussaint,  in  taking  skin  for  a  cockade,  the 
blacks  of  the  South,  and  a  part  of  the  West,  who, 
since  the  commencement  of  tlie  revolution,  had  ac- 
cepted the  direction  of  the  men  of  color  and  were 
satisfied  with  it,  remained  on  the  side  of  Rigaud  ; 
and  thus  formed,  in  fact,  as  they  continue  to  do, 
the  majority  of  what  is  called  the  mulatto  party. 

In  short,  the  aristoci-acy,  the  third-estate,  the 
mixed-bloods,  every  stage  of  the  old  colonial  society, 
were  successively  crushed,  the  one  upon  the  other  ; 
and  the  metropolitan  power,  at  each  crash,  aided 
by  a  push  the  fall.     It  had  only  to  fall  in  its  turn. 

Scarcely  nominated  General  of  Divison,  Tous- 
saint had  nothing  more  pressing  than  to  disembar- 
rass himself  of  Laveaux  and  Sonthonax,  by  having 


SOULOUGUE    AND    IHS   EMPIRE.  43 

them  ciiosen  as  deputies.  The  latter,  wlio  already 
suspected  his  i^ro/e^e,  exhibited  a  visible  hesitation 
in  leaving.  Toussaint,  played  to  the  life,  the  scene 
of  Mon.  Dimanche  ;  and,  Avliile  overwhelming 
Sonthonax  with  i)rotestations,  pushed  him  gently 
along  by  the  slioulders  to  the  vessel,  which  was 
about  to  bear  away  this  unfortunate  spy.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Envoy  of  the  Directory,  Hedouville, 
Toussaint' s  projects  of  independence,  wxre  very 
clearly  manifested.  These  were  encouraged  by  the 
English,  who,  in  evacuating  the  country,  step  by 
step,  before  the  French  Agents  and  Eigaud,  pre- 
tended to  capitulate  only  with  the  black  chief;  and, 
even  offered  by  secret  treaty  to  recognize  him  King 
of  Hayti.  Braving,  one  by  one,  the  orders  of  the 
day,  issued  by  Hedouville,  he  reestablished  wor- 
ship, and  recalled  the  emigrants  ;  filled  with  them, 
the  administration,  and  the  staff  of  the  colonial 
army;  sent  back  to  the  old  plantations,  for.  five 
years,  the  newly  liberated  slaves  ;  and  reduced,  by 
a  third  to  a  fourth,  the  portion  accorded  to  the  lat- 
ter, in  the  product  of  their  labor.  He  did  not  less 
discover  the  secret  of  making  the  blacks  believe, 
that  Hedouville  (who,  nevertheless,  wished  to  pro- 
tect them  against  the  complaisance  of  their  chief  to 
the  planters,)  had  as  his  mission  to  reestablish 
slavery  ;  and  the  Envoy  of  the  Directory  was  com- 
pelled, by  a  revolt,  to  leave  the  Island,  after  con- 
fiding the  interests  of  the  metropolis  to  Rigaud,  of 
whose  ill-success  we  have  already  spoken. 


14  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

liere  the  same  recriminations  were  reproduced 
under  another  form :  against  Tonssaint,  who  sought 
the  independence  of  Hayti — and  against  Rigaud, 
Avho  fouglit  for  the  sovereignty  of  France  ;  against 
tlie  black  chief,  who  restored,  in  fact,  all  the  old 
regime,  without  other  corrective  than  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  cudgel,* — even  the  gun  for  the  whip  ; 
against  the  mulatto  chief,  who  defended  republican 
institutions,  whence  sprang  the  emacipation. 
Which  was  the  true  Haytien? — Avhich  the  traitor? 

A  war  of  words  still.  Rigaud  played  a  loyal  and 
safe  game — whilst  Toussaint  risked  all  for  all,  and 
cheated ;  but  the  stake,  on  both  sides,  was  the 
social  regeneration  of  the  blacks.  The  mulatto 
chief  saw  it  entirely  in  civil  liberty  ;  and,  he  was 
as  logical  as  he  was  honest,  in  persisting  to  con- 
found the  political  destinies  of  his  country  with 
those  of  France,  where  no  anti-abolitionist  tendency 
was -yet  manifested.  The  black  chief  sought  it  in 
national  liberty  ;  and,  whether  his  ambition  abused 
it  or  not,  he  was,  from  the  point  of  view  given,  not 
less  logical,  in  adopting  and  strengthening  all  the 
interests  hostile  to  the  metropolitan  power.  If 
Rigaud  had  succeeded,  the  expedition  of  General 
Leclerc  would  not  have  been  necessary  ;  and  the 
violent  reaction,  from  which  resulted  successively, 
the  reestablishment  of  slavery ;  and  the  definitive 


-■••  The  rights  of  man  above  all ;  but  they  only  employed — at  least 
it  was  seriously  agitated  only  to  employ — a  tricolored  cudgel . 


SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   ExMPIRE.  45 

separation  of  Saint-Domingo,  and  its  isolation  from 
all  civilized  contact,  would  not  have  been  justified. 
In  exchange  for  its  name  of  Hayti,  this  bloody 
trunk  of  African  barbarism  would  now  be  vital  with 
European  and  French  life.  But  because  Toussaint 
favored  tlic  old  colonial  aristocracy,  because  he 
made  tlie  estates  yield  a  third,  or  more,  than  they 
did  before  the  emancipation,  must  it  be  concluded, 
as  has  been  written,  that  lie  was  the  voluntary  in- 
strument of  the  planters  ;  and  that  he  had  secretly 
sold,  in  exchange  for  their  complicity,  the  liberty 
of  tlie  blacks? — that,  in  a  word,  to  consummate  the 
usurpation  he  meditated,  he  stopped  at  the  strange 
expedient,  of  exciting  against  himself  nineteen- 
twentieths.of  his  future  subjects,  and  driving  them 
into  the  arms  of  the  metropolis  ? 

This  is  not  debatable.  Toussaint  was  only  dou- 
bly clever  in  this  matter.  Having  to  deal  with 
two  interests,  which  would  have  been  able,  equally, 
to  say  they  were  spoliated — with  the  metropolis  and 
the  planters — ought  he  not  to  have  endeavored  to 
disarm,  at  least,  one  of  them?  But  he  cast  his  right 
of  preference  on  that  one  of  the  two,  which  could 
best  accommodate  itself  to  his  projects  of  indepen- 
dence, and  Avitli  Avhich,  contact  was  the  least  dan- 
gerous. This  was  the  case  of  the  planters,  who 
made,  as  it  is  seen,  a  very  good  sale  of  their  French 
nationality  ;  and  who,  lost  in  an  ocean  of  the  black 
population,  strong  in  the  protection  alone  of  Tous- 


46  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

saint,  could  never  inspire  Inm  with  any  suspicion. 
The  okl  colonists  brought,  besides,  to  the  black 
nationality,  awakened  by  Toussaint,  the  principal 
elements  of  all  organized  society — civilization,  capir 
tal,  commercial  relations,  and  influence  abroad  ; — 
even,  by  their  affinities  with  the  counter  revolution 
in  Europe. 

But  why  the  reestablishment  of  the  workshops  ? 
Because  the  old  black  ruler  comprehended,  by  in- 
stinct, what  a  terrible  and  dear  experience,  alone, 
had  taught  the  whites.  The  essential  character  of 
slavery  being  compulsory  labor,  the  first  proof  of 
liberty,  which  the  old  slaves  attempted  to  realize, 
was  unlimited  sloth  ;  and  Toussaint  prevented  this 
last  excess,  by  the  contrary  extreme.  If  he  sus- 
pended liberty,  in  fact — he  fortified  it  in  principle ; 
for  he  destroyed  the  principal  argument  of  the 
partizans  of  slavery — hj  proving,  that  emancipation 
could  be,  very  readily  reconciled  with  the  interests, 
and  the  rights,  of  the  proprietors ;  and  in  the  same 
way  he  popularised  his  project  of  independence  with 
the  latter — by  proving,  that  a  black  government 
could  make  labor  i^roduce  more  than  it  did  under 
a  white  administration. 

The  best  proof,  that  Toussaint  did  not  cons23ire 
against  the  rights  of  his  race,  is  that  he  prepared 
it  for  the  practice  of  these  rights  ;  exciting  in  it,  by 
religion,  the  sentiment  of  human  dignity,  and 
moral  resx)onsibility,  which  the  servile  regime  had 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  4 


hr 


extinguished;  reacting  by  liis  exterior*  rigorism 
against  the  dissolute  habits,  beriueathed  by  this 
regime  ;  rendering  instruction  obligatory,  as  Avell 
as  labor  ;  in  a  Avord,  endeavoring  to  civilize  the 
men,  and  to  render  the  women  less  savage.  He 
especially  knew  how  to  inspire  in  these  old  hordes 
of  Jean-Francois,  wlio  h.ad,  u])  to  this  time,  only 
learned  liberty  by  devastation  and  pillage,  an  al^ 
most  superstitious  horror  of  the  property  of  others. 
It  reached  that  point,  that-  they  did  not  dare  to 
take  even  the  gratifications,  which  the  whites 
offered  tliem. 

This  model  order,  in  truth,  was  only  obtained  at 
the  price  of  a  frightful  despotism  ;  but  it  is  neces- 
sary, always,  to  keep  the  medium  course.  With  re- 
gard to  the  bhacks,  who  remem.bered  their  native 
Africa,  as  well  as  the  greater  part  of  those  who 
could  only  interrogate  the  souvenirs  of  slavery,  the 


«  ''His  private  life"  writes  Pamphile  Lacroix  "is  not  less  edify- 
ing. Our  young  generals,  curious  and  indiscreet,  found  in  the 
chests  of  the  black  Governor,  many  love-letters,  and  a  great  many 
locks  of  hair  of  all  colors.  But  his  natural  hypocrisy  served  to  con- 
ceal his  fliults.  He  knew,  as  he  once  said  in  one  of  those  discourses 
which  he  frequently  made  in  the  churches  where  the  people  were 
assembled— he  knew  that  the  scandal  caused  by  public  men  resulted 
in  consequences  much  more  ruinous  than  tliat  i)roduccd  by  a  simple 
citizen.  And  outwardly  he  remained  a  model  of  reserve.  He  recom- 
mended good  morals ;  he  imposed  Ihem  ;  he  punished  adultery  ; 
and,  at  his  soirees,  he  dismissed  married  women  and  young  girls, 
without  sparing  white  ladies,  who  displayed  exposed  breasts—"  not 
seeing,"  h5  said,  "  how  any  honest  woman  could  thus  wound  de- 
cency." 


48  SOULOUQUE   AND   IILS   EMPIRE. 

idea  of  authority  was  inseparable  from  that  of  ab- 
solute rule  and  violence.  After  the  proclamation 
of  general  liberty^  Commissioner  Polvercl  published 
regulations  for  the  organization  of  labor,  the  prin- 
cipal prescriptions  of  which  glided  but  timidly  be- 
tween the  nettles  and  briars  of  the  rights  of  man. 
^'The  work  of  the  first  legislator  of  free  labor/' 
Ipsaid  Monsieur  Lepelletier  Saint-Remy,  '^  was  re- 
ceived with  the  laughter  and  jokes  of  his  new  Justi- 
ciahles."  ^'  Commissai  Palverel,  he  too  much  fool — 
he  hioiv  nutting,"  said  they,  in  laughing  at  the 
trouble  the  commissioner  of  the  Republic  had 
given  himself  to  legislate  for  them.  Here  is  the 
slave  of  yesterday,  and  especially  the  African  cf  the 
day  before  ;  they  would  not  think  they  were  gov- 
erned unless  they  felt  themselves  oppressed.  Here, 
as  in  the  bands  of  Biassou  and  Hyacinthe,  tJie  op- 
pressor was  a  black  chief,  and  this  was  sufficient 
for  their  vague  aspirations  of  liberty.  Toussaint 
founded,  in  short,  the  true  black  policy — that  only 
which  was  suited  to  the  uncivilized  and  brutish 
element  of  the  new  people.  In  fact,  we  will  see, 
that  almost  all  the  negro  chiefs  successively  devel- 
oped it,  as  if  by  instinct ;  and  through  every  breach, 
which  the  times  or  generous  illusions  made  in  this 
bloody  obstacle,  savagery  overflowed  anew. 

But  the  trembling  fragments  of  the  colored  pop- 
ulation, whose  education,  tastes,  and  past  role  had 
initiated  them  into  French  manners  and  q^iinions  ; 
the  old  slaves  of  the  Southern  party,  which  a  po- 


souLonQiiii:  and  his  kmp:i2:^.  49 

litical  contact  often  years  witii  tliis  class  liad  com- 
2)aratively  civilized,  and  who,  in  remaining  to  the 
end  on  the  side  of  Rigaud,  had  learned  to  taste  the 
mildness  and  cqnity  of  the  French  administration — 
these  two  fractions  of  tlie  yellow  party,  in  a  word, 
ought  naturally  to  have  found  the  yoke  of  the  hlack 
usurper  intolerahle.  Therefore,  they  welcomed  tlie 
expedition  of  1802  as  a  deliverance.  On  their  side, 
the  ])rincipal  hlack  generals,  who,  by  reason  of 
making  all  how  under  them,  were  unaccustomed  to 
how  themselves,  abandoned  Toussaint,  one  after 
tlie  other.  Here  the  inevitable  result  of  each 
black  tyranny  was  again  developed. 

I  only  mention  from  memory  the  consequences 
of  the  expedition  of  Leclerc  ;  the  reestablishment 
of  slavery,  as  disloyal  as  it  was  imprudent,  rekind- 
ling that  insurrection  which  solemn  promises  of 
liberty  had  extinguished  ;  the  accidents  of  climate 
aggravating  the  faults  of  policy  ;  the  yellow  fever 
carrying  off  fourteen  generals,  fifteen  hundred  offi- 
cers, twenty  thousand  soldiers,  and  nine  thousand 
sailors  ;  famine  adding  itself  to  this  epidemic,  and 
the  dark  storm  driving,  even  into  the  power  of  the 
English  squadron,  the  dying  remnant  of  our  army  ; 
not  without  frightful  struggles,  in  which  all  hu- 
man horrors — those  of  civilization  and  those  of  bar- 
barism— appeared  to  soil  the  mutual  prodigies  of 
heroism,  independence  was  proclaimed,  and  gen- 
eral Dessalines  became  Chief  of  the  new  State,  with 
the  title  of  Governor  General  for  life — which  he 
was  not  slow  in  changing  to  that  of  Em'pcror. 


50  SOULOUQUE   AND    IITS   EMPIRE. 

•The  men  of  color  could  not  l)e  suspected, 
tliencefortli^  of  conspiring  against  the  liberty  of  the 
black  race  ;  they  were  washed  of  this  accusation  in 
Frencli  blood.  It  was  even  one  of  them,  Petion, 
adjutant  general  in  the  army  of  Leclerc,  and  whom 
we  will  soon  see  appear  at  tlie  head  of  his  caste — 
who,  upon  learning  of  the  reestablishment  of  sla- 
very, gave  the  signal  for  insurrection,  carrying  with 
him  into  the  woods,  the  generals,  Clair vaux  (mu- 
latto) and  Christophe  (black).  But  the  antago- 
nism, between  tlie  enlightened  and  the  African 
element,  was  about  to  reappear  under  another  form ; 
and  it  already  betrayed  itself,  secreth^,  by  the  very 
affectation,  which  the  mulatto  minority  showed,  in 
disseminating  and  proscribing  the  distinctions  of 
skin,  and  in  calling  themselves  negroes."^  Do  not 
laugh  ;  alas  !  have  we  not  had,  also,  our  mulatto 
negroesf  It  was  at  the  death  of  Dessalines,  that  this 
antagonism  broke  out. 

Dessalines  in  character  was  Toussaint,  doubled 
by  Biassou  and  Jeannot ;  but  the  Biassou  and  Jean- 
not  element  finally  got  the  advantage,  so  that  a 
regiment  killed  him,  one  fine  day,  by  surprise,  and 
without  ceremony,  as  they  would  kill  an  enraged 

*These  timid  appeals  for  reconciliation,  were  translated  into  offi- 
cial language.  Article  XIV  of  the  first  Haytien  constitution, 
voted  by  the  generals  of  both  colors,  but  engrossed  hy  the  mulattoes, 
who  were  o\\\j  educated,  said:  "All  regard  for  color,  among  the 
children  of  the  same  family,  of  which  the  chief  of  the  State,  is  the 
father,  ought  necessarily  to  cease  ;  the  Haytiens  will  only  be  known, 
hereaftei-,  under  the  generic  denomination  of  blacks. ^^ 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  51 

wolf.  Because  this  assassination  was  accomplislied 
in  the  South-west,  wliere  the  influence  of  tlie  men 
of  color  predominated — and  because  the  colored 
general,  Clair vaux,  gave  the  signal,  they  concluded 
that  it  was  only,  a  reaction  of  the  mulattoes  there 
against  the  domination  of  the  blacks.  In  reality, 
both  castes  were  engaged  in  it.  They  persuaded 
Dessalines  that,  lie  would  not  be  master,  until  he 
disembarrassed  himself  of  his  old  equals — the  gene- 
rals of  tlie  war  of  independence  ;  and  Christophe,. 
the  second  black  personage  of  the  Empire,  being 
most  endangered,  by  this  system  of  summary  elimi- 
nations, placed  liimself  at  the  head  of  the  con- 
spiracy. The  mulattoes  felt  themselves  so  little 
prepared  for  power,  that  they  were  the  first  to  con- 
fer it  upon  him  ;  their  ambition  was  limited,  at 
tlie  time,  to  obtaining,  by  the  establishment  of  a 
parliamentary  regime,  some  guaranties  against  the 
autocratic  tendencies  of  the  Idack  government,  and 
the  share  of  influence  which  this  regime  would  se- 
cure to  the  most  enliglitened  class.  But,  it  was  at 
til  is  very  point,  that  the  schism  was  produced. 

Christoplie,  irritated  by  the  restrictions,  which 
the  assembly  of  Port-mc  Prince^  imposed  upon  the 
executive  power,  commanded  it  to  disperse  ;  and 
marched  against  it,  just  at  the  time,  when  the  con- 
stituency decreed  him  the  presidency  of  the  Repub- 
lic. This  negro  trick  was  especially  at  the  address 
of  tlie  men  of  color ;  and  fear  contributed,  as  much  as 
their  democratic  susceptibilities,  to  put  arms  in 


52  SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

tlieir  hands.  Petion  marched  to  encounter  Chris- 
tophcj  and,  after  a  short  struggle,  the  two  influen- 
ces classed  themselves,  as  in  the  times  of  Toussaint 
and  Kigaud.*  The  Southern  portion  of  the  coun- 
try, (called  the  South  and  West  divisions)  bestowed 
the  presidency  upon  the  colored  chief,  who,  having 
been  twice  reelected  and,  finally,  named  for  life, 
emj^loj^ed  in  the  exercise  of  power,  a  simplicity 
and  disinterestedness,  which  we  no  longer  hesitate 
to  call  republican. 

The  North  submitted,  on  its  part,  to  the  black 
chief;  who_,  less  than  five  years  afterwards,  on  the 
28th  of  March,  1811,  proclaimed  himself  King  of 
Hayti,  under  the  name  of  Henry  1st.  This  time 
it  was  not  a  monarch  after  the  fashion  of  the  Em- 
peror Dessalines,  who  from  time  to  time,  spread  his 
imperial  mantle  over  the  grass  and  weeds  in  order 
to  resign  himself  more  at  ease,  in  the  midst  of  his 
camp,  to  tlie  tumultuous  caprices  of  the  dance,  and 
African  orgies.  Christophe  took  his  part  altogether 
seriously,  and  played  it,  for  nearly  ten  years,  with 
an  ease,  an  aplomb,  and  a  sustained  spirit,  which 
did  honor  to  the  imitative  genius  of  his  race.  The 
old  hotel-keeper  had  a  magnificent  coronation,  and 


-■•Rigaud  appeared  himself,  a  short  time  afterwards,  in  the  South, 
and  organized  a  republic,  within  that  of  P«5tion.  A  common  instinct 
of  preservation,  alone  jirevented  the  two  colored  chiefs,  from  coming 
to  blows.  Rigaud  died  soon  after,  and  his  successor,  Borgella, 
submitted  to  Petion . 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  53 

surrounded  himself  with  princes,   dukes,   counts, 
barons,  chevaliers  and  pages.* 

He  had  a  grand  marshal  of  the  palace,  a  grand 
master  of  ceremonies,  a  grand  huntsman,  a  grand 
cup-hearer,  a  grand  pantler,  a  chancellor  and  his 
chafe-wax,  a  king  at  arms,  chamberlains  and  gov- 
ernors of  chateaux  ;  he  had  a  royal  and  military 
order  of  Saint  Henry,  Haytien  guards,  life-guards, 
and  light-horse,  without  counting  a  company  of 
roycd-honhons.'\      The    military   and    civic   house- 
holds of  the  Queen,  Marie-Louise^  of  the  prince 
royal,  and  the  princess  Amethyste   {Madame  pre- 
miere^) were  in  proportion.     Classic  etiquette  pre- 
sided over  the  great  and  small  levees^  of  their  black 
Majesties.     At  these,  hair-powder  and  the  sword 
were  en  rigueur;  and  the  stools  of  the  duchesses  were 
kept  at  a  distance  from  the  folding  chairs  of  the 
simple  countesses.    There  was  besides  much  more  to 
laugh  at  in  this  innocent  negro  carnival.     Among 
these  poor  African  helots,  who,  to  manifest  their 
equality,  found  nothing  better  than  to  borrow  the 
hair-powder  and  laces  of  the  old  white  aristocracy, 
tliere  were  altogether,  more  sincere  aspirations  of 
social  progress,  more  veritable  democratic  instincts, 
as    we   w^ould    say,   than    there    were   among  the 
lawyer-workmen,  and  physicians  in  blouses,  of  our 
yesterday's  of  revolution. 

■••■Dessalincs  manifested  in  his  savage  pride  this  inspiration,  really 
otherwise  royal:  "I  alone  am  noble!"  he  replied  scornfully  to 
tliose  of  his  generals  who  asked  him  to  create  an  aristocracy. 

|A  niilitiiry  school. 


II. 

Black  Politics,  and  Yellow  Politics. 

Here  are  black  politics  and  yellow  politics ,  really 
now  face  to  face.  The  planters  are  no  longer  be- 
hind the  first — nor  France  behind  the  second. 
Each  one  of  them,  is,  henceforth,  left  to  its  own  in- 
stincts, and  each  is,  in  the  midst  of  its  own  prefer- 
ences.    Let  us  see  them  at  work. 

Christophe  renewed  the  tyranny  of  Toussaint. 
Like  St.  Louis,  the  little  black  monarch  Avas 
pleased  to  render  justice  under  a  tree  ;  but  he  only 
gave  decrees  of  death.  Death  was  almost  the  sole 
article  of  his  code ;  idleness,  disobedience,  the 
smallest  theft,  the  least  symptom  of  discontent,  or 
of  monarchical  indiffei'ence — nothing  esaped  tliis 
jmnishment.  But  this  regime  of  terror  could  not 
suit  the  enlightened  minority,  under  Cliristophe, 
any  more  than  it  had  done  under  Toussaint ;  and, 
as  he  felt  they  Avere  secretly  desirous  of  throwing 
off  his  yoke,  the  suspicious  despot  was  led  pre- 
cisely to  make  it  more  aggravating  ;  thus  excit- 
ing the  liostility,  against  which  he  sought  to 
defend  himself.  No  tyranny  could  escape  this 
]aA^^  In  an  expedition  against  the  West,  two  mu- 
latto officers,  passed,  Avith  their  a)rps,  over  to  the 
side  of  Petion  ;  and  Christ()])hc  shiiightered,  in  re- 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  55 

taliation,  the  numerous  colored  population,  with- 
out distinction  of  age  or  sex,  which  were  found  at 
Saint-Marc,  one  of  his  frontier  places.  Those  men 
of  color,  and  black  adlierents  of  the  old  yellow 
party,  remaining  in  the  North,  were  only  the  more 
eager  to  emigrate  to  the  republic  of  Port-au-Prince ; 
bringing  away,  gradually,  the  little  civilization, 
which  gave  life  to  tlie  kingdom  of  Christophe. 

With  the  despotism  of  Toussaint,  wliicli  was  now 
no  longer  mitigated  by  the  European  influence  of 
tlie  old  planters,  Christophe  restored,  and  even 
exaggerated  his  system  of  agriculture,  although, 
like  the  first  black  chief,  he  had  no  longer  pre- 
(ixistent  interests  to  care  for.  The  plantations 
were  erected  into  hereditary  fiefs,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  principal  officers  ;  and  the  blacks  were  attached 
to  them,  under  the  same  conditions,  as  previously  ; 
with  this  difference  only,  that  wages  were  substi- 
tuted for  the  permanent  guardianship,  which  im- 
plied slavery  ;  and,  that  the  new  planters,  trans- 
formed into  great  feudatories-,  arrogated  the  right 
of  life  and  deatli,  over  the  old  slaves,  who  thus  be- 
came serfs.  Therefore  planting  on  a  large  scale 
was  revived  more  fiourishingly  than  ever.  As  a 
temporary  organization  of  labor,  this  rigorous  dis- 
cipline, I  repeat  it,  was  a  necessary  transition  to 
the  blacks  ;  and  could  be  even  reconciled  with  the 
idea,  most  of  them  yet  had  of  liberty  ;  the  more  so, 
that  the  feudality  of  Christophe  being  entirely  mili- 
tary, tlie  disci])line  of  the  workshop),  seemed  to  be 


56  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

the  natural  continuation  of  tliat  of  the  barrack, 
and  the  battle  field.  But  tliere  was  more  in  this 
than  the  forced  labor  and  temporary  engage- 
ments, of  the  system  of  Toussaint ;  there  was 
mort'mai7i,  which,  under  the  form  of  eldership,  fixed  ^ 
immovably,  almost  the  entire  property,  and  the 
glebe,  and,  by  making  the  cultivators  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  real  estate,  deprived  them  of  all 
certain  hope  of  becoming,  one  day,  free  laborers, 
and  proprietors.  But  we  can  compreliend  how  the 
old  slaves,  after  having  tasted,  sufficiently,  the 
proud  satisfaction  wliich  an  African  can  feel,  of 
being  tyrannized  over  only  by  Africans,  they  should 
have  finally  become  sufiiciently  indifferent  to  a 
nationality,  which  only  terminated  in  an  indefinite 
aggravation  of  slavery. 

Christophe  foresaw  it  himself;  to  resist  this  ten- 
dency, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  make  the  remem- 
brances of  the  old  Franco-mulatto  alliance  operate 
against  his  Southern  rival,  tlie  black  tyrant, 
(whom  the  agents  of  England  and  the  United 
States  moreover  deceived,  as  they  did  Toussaint,) 
endeavored  to  revive  their  hatred  against  France  ; 
putting  to  death  as  a  spy,  the  first  Frencli  envoy, 
which  ventured  into-  his  dominions  ;  and  not  allow- 
ing the  second  French  commission  to  land  which 
presented  itself  in  1816.  By  the  exaggeration  it- 
self of  this  system,  Christophe  here  again  opposed 
his  own  object.  He  could  not  have  taken,  in  fact, 
a  better  method  of  provoking,  sooner  or  later,  an 


SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS   EMPIRE.  57 

invasion  by  France  ;  wliich,  having  Europe^  no 
longer,  on  her  hands,  and  being  able  to  clioose  her 
own  time,  would  have,  infallibly,  reentered  into 
the  possession  of  her  old  colony. 

Petion  adopted,  entirely,  a  different  policy.  Half 
from  inclination,  half  from  tactics, — and  to  attract 
to  him  the  civilizing  forces,  which  his  rival  aliena- 
ted— the  Southern  chief  measured  his  tolerance,  by 
the  despotism  of  Christophe.  But,  after  the  geo- 
graphical division  of  these  two'  influences,  just  as 
there  was  left  in  the  North  a  nucleus  too  advanced 
for  the  black  tyranny,  there  remained  in  the  South, 
a  small  party  too  inexperienced  for  the  mulatto  re- 
gime ;  and  which,  by  an  interpretation,  of  which 
negro  genius  does  not  possess  the  monopoly,  forth- 
with construed  republican  liberty  as  tlie  right 
to  dance,  to  sleep,  and  to  eat  the  bananas  of  tlie 
' '  hon  Dieu, ' '  taking  them  fresh  from  the  trees.  The 
banana  is  food  fallen  from  heaven  ;  and  like- 
wise, will  suggest  the  rights  of  labor  to  these 
socialists  of  nature.  It  was  not,  that  there  did 
not  exist  very  sage  regulations  against  the  idleness, 
and  unsteadiness,  of  the  cultivators  ;  but,  the  diffi- 
culty was  to  apply  tliese  regulations. 

By  'appearing  to  adopt,  even  partially,  the  co- 
ercive measures  of  Christophe,  Avould  not  Petion 
have  lost,  with  these  distrustful  natures,  all  the 
benefit  of  the  contrast,  he  endeavored  to  establish  ? 
The  attractions  of  caste  were  not  to  be  dreaded, 
moreover,  on  the  side  of  the  North  altogether.     A 


58  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIllE. 

bandit  of  the  school  of  Biassou,  the  black  Gomaii, 
founded  a  small  African  State,  in  the  ver}-  heart  of 
the  republic  ;  about  which,  all  the  refractory  ele- 
ments, of  the  North  and  South,  were  imperceptibly 
aggregated.  In  order  not  to  furnish  recruits  to  this 
faction  (called  the  insurrection  of  the  Gr ancle- Anse) 
it  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  respect  the  vagabond 
fantasies  of  our  amateurs  of  bananas.  The  van- 
doux — a  kind  of  religious  and  dancing  free-masonry, 
which  was  introduced  into  Saint-Domingo  by  the 
Aradas  negroes,  and  greatly  feared  by  the  plan- 
ters— the  vandouXy  grouped  them  in  associations, 
which  were  gradually  substituted  for  the  rural 
police,  ruining  or  enriching,  at  their  .pleasure,  the 
proprietors,  they  disgraced  or  protected.  Petion 
desired  to  found  a  little  France,  and  it  was  Africa 
which  took  possession  of  it. 

Petion  experienced  at  first  fewer  mistakes  in 
the  establishment  of  his  land  system.  To  create 
a  powerful  combination  of  democratic  interests,  in 
opposition  to  the  feudal  interests,  which  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  North  represented,  and  threatened 
to  impose  ;  to  neutralize,  by  attaching  the  army 
to  himself,  any  possible  defection  of  tlie  generals 
who,  being  themselves  constituted  proprietors  of 
the  best  plantations,  might  be  reduced,  at  length, 
by  the  guarantees,  which  the  administration  of 
Christophe  offered  to  planting  on  a  large  scale, — 
and,  especially,  by  the  perspective  of  seeing  their 
farm-leases   transformed    into   fiefs ;    to    give   the 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  59 

black  masses  palpable  proof,  tbat  the  yellow  class, 
in  calling  tbem  around  it,  intended,  not  to  work 
tbem,  as  Cbristopbe  repeated    after  Tonssaint, — 
but  to  associate  tbem  tbe  better  for  tbeir  welf\xre  and 
rigbts  ;  to  interest,  in  sbort,  tbese  masses  for  tbe 
independence   of    tbe   country — and   to  create   in 
tbem,  by  a  desire  for  property,  tbe  taste  for  labor, 
— tbe  obligation  of  wbicb,  bis  color  prevented  bis 
imposing  too  openly  ;  sucb  were  tbe  multiidied  ob- 
jects wbicb  Petion  proposed  to  attain.     Witb  tbis 
view,  be  divided  tbe  national  domain.     A  part  of 
it  was  distributed,  in   small  lots  proportioned  to 
rank  ;  first,  among  tlie  veterans  and  tben,  among 
different  classes  of  tbe  military,  and  civil  function- 
aries in  active  service.     Tbe  remainder  was  put  up 
to  sale,  in  equal  parcels,  and  at  a  very  low  price  ; 
tbe  undervaluing  of  wbicb,   Petion  was  tbe  very 
first  to  encourage,  in  order  to  basten  tbe  political 
results  be  sougbt  to  obtain.     Tbis  inducement  suc- 
ceeded beyond  all  expectation.     It  was  among  tbe 
industrious  cultivators,  tbat  tbese  facilities,  wbicb 
were  offered  to  become  proprietors,  would  be  availed 
of.  Tbose,  wbose  competence  was  insufficient,  would 
engage  to  fiirm,  witb  an  equal  sbare  of  tbe  profits, 
tbe  lots  of  tbe  military  and  civil  grantees,  wbose 
functions  and  agricultural  inexperience,  would  not 
permit  tbem  directly  to  work  ;  and  tbey  tbus  be- 
came,   in   tbeir   turn,    proprie-tors    in   fact.      But 
here  again,  tbe  evil  manifested  itself,  by  tbe  side 
of  tbe  good.     Cultivation  on  a  large  scale  wbicb 


60  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

could  only  furnish  exterior  commerce,  with  advan- 
tagCj  sugar,  coffee^  indigo,  and  cotton — that  is  to 
say,  the  chief  elements  of  colonial  riches — lost,  at 
length,  hy  this  transformation,  the  small  number 
of  diligent  arms,  it  had  been  able  to  retain.  It 
was  so  much  the  more  to  be  regretted,  as  Petion 
understood,  far  betfer  than  Cbristophe,  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  his  countiy.  Even,  in  seeking 
to  show  France  that,  in  order  to  reconquer  St.  Do- 
mingo^ she  would  have,  hereafter,  a  hundred 
thousand  proprietors  to  exterminate,  the  mulatto 
chief  did  not  disguise  that  the  simple  possibility  of 
a  new  Leclerc-expedition,  would  be  equivalent,  to 
a  blockade  of  the  Island  ;  and,  instead  of  fortify- 
ing himself  against  us,  in  the  savage  and  stupid 
isolation  of  Christophe,  he  hastened  to  establish 
the  principle  of  a  pecuniary  indemnity  ;  which  be- 
came the  basis  of  negotiations,  from  which  resulted 
the  friendly  recognition  of  Haytien  nationality. 

In  short,  each  of  these  two  policies  had  sacrificed 
half  of  its  undertaking,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  other.  Christophe,  whilst  restraining  barbar- 
ism, trod  out  the  civilizing  element ;  Petion  opened, 
on  the  contrary,  a  wide  door  to  the  civilizing  ele- 
ment, and  to  social  progress,  but  he  let  barbarism 
pass  through  it.  The  first,  based  upon  his  op- 
pressed people,  the  foundations  of  a  great  national 
prosperity  ;  the  second,  made  a  good  bargain  of 
the  national  riches,  in  order  to  give  liberty,  and 
immediate   benefits,  to  the   masses.     Whilst   the 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  61 

negro  tyi'ant,  finally,  deprived  tlie  system  of  ex- 
tended cultivation,  which  he  had  so  violently  or- 
ganized, of  the  security,  and  commercial  outlets, 
wliich  are  its  vital  guarantees,  the  mulatto  Presi- 
dent disorganized  it,  whilst  laboring  to  create  these 
guarantees.  The  yellow  policy  had,  nevertheless, 
an  incontestable  advantage  over  the  black  policy  ; 
it  was,  by  doubly  serving  the  cause  of  independ- 
ence, that  the  latter  was  doubly  compromised. 

In  1818  Petion,  worn  down  by  profound  discour- 
agements, to  which  were  added  domestic  chagrins, 
allowed  himself  to  die,  they  say,  of  hunger.  Gene- 
ral Boyer  succeeded  him,  and  continued  his  work. 
The  second,  and  third  years,  of  his  government 
were  signalized,  by  two  decisive  events  :  the  pacifi- 
cation of  the  Grande-Anse  ;  and  the  submission  of 
tlie  North.  In  consequence  of  an  attack  of  apo- 
plexy, Christophe  remained  half  paralyzed  ;  and, 
on  seeing  the  tiger  down,  his  trembling  attendants 
did  not  hesitate  to  fall  upon  him.  A  military  in- 
surrection burst  out  at  Saint-Marc  ;  then,  at  the 
Cap.  Christophe  endeavored  to  give  his  limbs,  a 
momentary  elasticity,  by  having  them  rubbed, 
w^ith  a  mixture  of  rum  and  pepper  ;  but  it  was  in 
vain.  Roaring  with  impotence,  he  had  himself 
carried  into  the  midst  of  his  guards  ;  harangued 
them  ;  and  ordered  them  to  march  on  the  Cap, 
which  lie  gave  them  tlie  right  to  pillage.  These 
took  up  the  line  of  march,  with,  all  the  demonstra- 
tions of  negro  enthusiasm  ;  but  meeting  the  insur- 


62  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

gents  on  the  route,  tliey  thought  it  much  shorter 
to  return,  with  these,  and  pillage  the  royal  resi- 
dence. Foreseeing  this  last  outrage,  Christophe 
discharged  a  pistol  into  his  heart. 

Two  black  Generals,  Kichard,  Duhe  de  Marma- 
lade, and  Paul  Romain,  Prince  de  Limhe,  expected 
certainly,  in  conspiring,  to  gather  the  heritage  of 
Christophe.  But  Boyer,  to  whom  the  insurgents 
of  Saint-Marc  had  sent,  in  guise  of  an  invitation, 
the  head  of  one  of  Christophe's  chiefs, — Boyer,  had 
only  to  present  himself,  to  be  recognized  by  the  en- 
tire North.  To  crown  his  good  fortune,  the  Spanish 
part  of  the  Island,  where  the  colored  class  was  as 
numerous,  as  the  black  class  was  in  the  French 
part,  were  led  to  imitate  the  North  ;  bringing 
thus,  to  the  yellow  minority,  a  reinforcement, 
which  went  far  to  counterbalance,  and  much  beyond 
that,  which  the  fall  of  Christophe  and  Romain 
gave  the  black  majority. 

At  length,  a  treaty  with  France,  sanctioned  de- 
finitely the  independence  of  Hayti.  An  entirely 
new  path  was  then  opened,  before  the  mulatto  gov- 
ernment. The  exaggerations  and  the  weaknesses, 
into  which  it  had  fallen  thus  far,  proceeding,  es- 
]3ecially,  from  the  necessities,  which  the  incessant 
antagonism  of  the  two  black  governments  had 
caused  it — the  eventuality  of  a  French  invasion — 
and  the  too  great  numerical  inequality  of  the  two 
colors — it  was  natural  to  believe  that,  these  three 
causes  having  disappeared,  or  being  diminished. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIllE.  63 

the  yellow  policy  woiild^  liencefortli,  only  manifest 
itselfj  tlirougli  its  good  features.  Unhappily,  the 
very  opposite  happened.  Boyer  saw  his  own  suc- 
cess turned  against  himself. 

Christophe  had  exceeded,  the  rigors  of  the  old 
system  of  slavery  ;    and,   even,  those  of  his  two 
black  predecessors  ;  therefore,  the  reaction  of  in- 
subordination and  sloth,  which  followed  his  fall, 
were  more  violent  than  ever.     And  when  this  new 
tide  of  emancipated  slaves  abrubtly  broke  into  their 
midst,  where  nothing  was  organized  to  restrain  it — 
I  leave  you  to  imagine  what  an  inundation  it  was  ! 
Nevertheless,    when    this    first    effervescence    had 
quieted  a  little,  so  that  the  division  of  the  soil,  in 
being  extended  from  the  South  to  the  North,  might 
interest,  the  working  minority  of  the  old  subjects 
of  Christophe,  to  maintain  the  new  regime — and 
the  peace  with  France  allowed  the  residue  to  be 
relieved  from  the  system  of  extended  cultivation — 
Boyer  thought  it  was. time  for  his  people,  to  con- 
sume a  little  less  rum,  and  to  produce  a  little  more 
sugar.     A  rural  code  was  promulgated.     The  farm- 
laborers  were  declared  exempt  from  army  service, 
and  militia  duty ;  but  whoever  could  not  prove  him- 
self possessed  of  sufficient  regular  means  of  living, 
was  required  to  bind  himself  as  a  farm-laborer,  for 
three,  six,  or  nine  years,  by  individual  contract ; 
this  cut  short  the  tyranny  of  the  dancing  corpora- 
tions.    Unhappily,  as  it  is  impossible  to  designate 
certain   things,  otherwise   than   by   their   proper 


64  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

names,  some  of  the  regulating  provisions  of  the 
code,  recalled  too  literally,  the  old  discipline  of  the 
workshops.  Secret  rancors,  which  began  to  agi- 
tate the  triumphant  party,  and  which  four  or  five 
successive  conspiracies  of  the  black  generals  re- 
vealed, did  not  fail  to  develope  these  analogies. 
Sonthonax,  Toussaint,  and  Christophe  had  there- 
fore spoken  the  truth  ;  and  the  colored  class  had, 
thus  far,  only  flattered  the  blacks,  in  order  to  dis- 
arm them,  and  afterwards  oppress  them  at  plea- 
sure ! 

Boyer  recoiled  before  this  sudden  awakening  of 
prejudices,  which  the  mulattoes  had  taken  thirty 
years  to  dissipate  ;  and  they  reproached  him,  too 
severely^,  with  this  confession  of  weakness.  For 
this  cause  alone,  in  fact,  that  it  was  no  longer 
grouped  about  Christophe  and  the  bandit  king  of 
the  Grande-Anse,  the  ultra-African  party  were 
now  found  everywhere,  sowing  their  old  ferments 
of  ignorance  and  hate,  even  in  the  most  docile  por- 
tions of  the  masses  ;  only,  waiting,  perhaps,  a  pro- 
vocation, to  i'ise,  at  the  same  time,  on  twenty 
different  points  ;  and  this  was  so  much  more  to  be 
feared,  because  the  spectacle  of  the  black  tyranny 
was  no  longer  present  to  neutralize  the  antipathies 
of  skin.  To  accept  this  struggle,  would  have  been 
to  risk  all  ;  and  Boyer  preferred  to  leave  this  spirit 
of  mistrust  and  revolt  to  extinguish  itself,  gradu- 
ally, for  the  want  of  aliment. 

The  rural  code,  therefore,  fell  into  desuetude;  he 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  65 

labored  only  who  wished.  Peace  even,  in  render- 
ing useless  a  military  organization,  which  alone 
had  maintained,  until  then,  a  remnant  of  discipline 
and  unity,  in  agricultural  labor;  contributed  to 
disorganize  it.  Hayti  began  its  career,  in  the  life 
of  nations,  by  this  double  contradiction  :  a  govern- 
ment, the  defeat  of  whose  interior  enemies  be- 
came a  new  cause  of  fear  and  feebleness;  "and 
a  people,  which  languished  and  died,  by  the  very 
law  of  the  development  and  prosperity  of  nations — 
security." 

In  some  cantons,  however,  the  execution  of  the 
rural  code  was  begun  ;  but  how  ?  A  Haytien  jour- 
nal of  the  time  will  inform  us:  "Refusing  to  be 
employed  by  others  for  wages,  the}^  (the  farm- 
laborers)  accused,  the  synallagmatic  contracts,  of 
restraining  their  free  choice  ;  and  they  should  have 
said  their  fickleness.  In  order  to  free  themselves 
from  ilieir  oUigation^  they  impoverished  the  proprie- 
tors, disgusted  them,  drove  them  to  despair — even  so 
far  as  to  induce  them  to  sacrifice  their  properties. 
Then,  by  the  terms  of  the  contracts,  their  gross 
earnings,  patiently  amassed,  were  hence  to  be  of- 
fered to  the  proprietors,  who  submitted."  In  the 
negro  peasant,  there  is  largely,  as  we  see,  the  ma- 
terial of  an  European-  peasant.  Easil}^  excited  and 
directed,  this  spirit  of  cupidity  and  cunning  might 
have  become  later,  in  the  last  resort,  a  powerf\il 
lever  of  social  organization  ;  but,  in  the  mean  time, 
there  was  exhibited  slotli  for  excitement — rclaxa- 


66  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

tion  of  production  for  policj — and  the  acceleration 
of  division,  for  the  result. 

A  supreme,  but  decisive,  expedient  remained  ;  it 
was  to  invite  the  energy  and  capital  of  strangers, 
to  develope  the  immense  virgin  resources  of  the 
Island.  The  constitution  of  1805,  and  all  the  other 
constitutions,  in  succession,  had  said:  ''No  ichite 
person,  whatever  may  be  his  nation,  shall  put  foot 
on  this  territory,  with  the  pretence  of  being  master 
or  proprietor  ;  and  cannot  for  the  future  acquire  any 
property  here.''  After  the  recognition  of  Haytien 
indejDcndence,  the  retention  of  this  article,  was 
nothing  less  than  a  ruinous  and  ridiculous  contra- 
diction. Unhappily,  in  the  position  in  which  he 
was  left  to  act,  Boyer  was  the  last  person,  who 
dared  to  declare  this  logical  consequence,  from  the 
treaty  with  France.  This  treaty,  without  which, 
Hayti  would  probably  be  now  called  Saint-Do- 
mingo, and  which  will  be,  for  generations  less 
prejudiced,  the  great  historical  title  of  Boyer — this 
treaty  excited^  in  the  bosom  of  the  ultra-black 
party,  violent  recriminations. 

The  patriots  of  the  school  of  Toussaint,  Dessa- 
lines,  and  Christophe,  were,  almost  as  highly  in- 
dignant, as  the  patriots  of  a  certain  French  school, 
against  those  ''mulattoes"  who  were  allowed  to 
sell  (at  a  very  good  j^rice,  however)  a  territory 
which  the  ''  blacks  "  had  conquered  ;  and,  as  each 
one  of  these  rare  parcels  of  the  indemnity  was  paid, 
which  the  governmentsent,  in  ringing  cash,  to  Paris, 


SOULOUQUE   AND   ]IIS    EMPIRE.  G7 

the  ^^ black  people,"  condenined  as  they  were  to  the 
ineagre  regivae of  assignats (paper-money),  naturally 
felt  the  wound  renewed.  This  was  not  all ;  did  not 
these  constant  efforts  of  Petion,  of  Boyer^  and  of  all 
the  mulatto  party,  to  remove  the  only  obstacle,  which 
opposed,  thenceforth,  white  immigration — that  is 
to  say,  the  crossing  of  the  two  races,  and  of  conse- 
quence the  increase  of  the  sang-meles — did  they 
not  betray  an  after  thought  of  numerical  prepond- 
erance, and  of  oppression  ?  But  there  is  no  pause 
possible,  in  the  policy  of  feebleness  ;  having  yielded, 
on  one  point,  to  the  prejudices  of  the  ultra-African 
party,  Boyer  and  his  caste  were  condemned^  in  ad- 
vance, to  yield  on  all  the  others  ;  and,  just  as  we 
have  seen  them,  justify  themselves  from  the.  re- 
proach of  despotism,  by  endeavoring  to  merit  the 
opposite  reproach,  they  found  nothing  better,  in 
order  to  escape  the  reaction  of  anti-French  mis- 
trusts than  in  taking  themselves  the  same  direction. 
The  hatred  of  France,  at  first  affected,  and 
finally  real  ;  the  daily  appeals  to  the  national  sen- 
ment  against  the  daik  conspiracies  of  France  ;  the 
tricks  of  every  kind  instigated,  by  some  French 
and  European  merchants,  who  had  not  recoiled 
before  a  sort  of  civil  death,  with  which,  the  white 
race  was,  and  is  still,  smitten  in  Hayti  ;  became, 
from  this  time,  the  governmental  tactics  of  Boyer, 
and  of  nearly  all  the  men  of  color.  They,  there- 
fore, still  exhibited  that  sad  and  singular  spec- 
tacle, of  a  government  reduced  to  strike,  itself,  the 


68  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

most  fruitful  part  of  its  work  with  sterility  ;  and 
an  entire  class,  condemning  itself  through  fear,  to 
discard  the  only  solution,  which  could  relieve  it 
from  its  moral  oppression.  As  if  it  had  been  said, 
finally,  that  not  one  of  the  most  able  combinations 
of  Bo3^er  should  escape  from  this  chain  of  mistakes, 
the  mulatto  majority  of  the  East,  whose  manners, 
ti-aditions,  and  interests,  were  opposed  to  such  a 
system,  were  not  slov/  in  repenting  of  the  annexa- 
tion ;  and  only,  therefore,  became  an  embarrass- 
ment, thenceforth  to  the  mulatto  minority  of  the 
West,  to  whom  they  should  have  brought  a  decisive 
reinforcement. 

Nevertheless,  Boyer  had  a  powerful  auxilliary — 
time.  Twenty  years  of  calm,  had  so  softened  man- 
ners, that  armed  robbery,  and  murder,  had  become 
unheard  of  things.  The  pacific  contact  of  the  two 
castes  led  gradually  to  their  fusion  ;  and,  already, 
the  black  party  properly  so  called — the  school  of 
Toussaint — was  not  more  than  a  feeble  minority, 
which  became  more  enlightened  every  day,  carry- 
ing with  it_,  into  the  tomb,  the  germ  of  savage  sus- 
ceptibilities ;  before  Avhich,  governmental  action 
had  been  obliged  to  efface  itself.  Boyer  and  the 
intelligent  men  who  surrounded  him,  as  many  of 
them  yellow  as  black,  anticipated,  therefore,  the 
time,  when  they  could  strike  this  block  of  barbar- 
ism, without  exciting  insurrection — vain  hope  yet  I 
To  this  society,  which  decomposed  in  its  birth, 
there  was  wanting  a  last  dissolvent  ;  and  the  third 
party  appeared. 


III. 

The   yellow    bourgeoisie — A    negro    24th    of  February — Guerrier, 
Pierrot,  Riche — Soulouquc — A  conjured/oMfez«7. 

We  must  render  this  justice  to  the  Haytiens — 
that,  if  they  made  absurd  constitutions,  they  ex- 
celled in  violating  them.  Petion  himself,  in  spite 
of  his  democratic  illusions,  was  not  slow  in  com- 
prehending, that  the  more  the  governmental  au- 
thority was  affected  with  feebleness,  the  more 
necessary  it  was,  not  to  divide  it ;  and,  that  unity 
of  action,  and  direction,  was  especially  the  only 
possible  corrective  of  the  excessive  tolerance,  which 
the  prejudices  of  the  lower  caste  imposed  upon  him. 
A  part  of  the  Senate,  and  behind  it,  a  suf- 
ficiently numerous  party,  which  rallied  itself  after- 
wards on  the  momentary  schism  of  Rigaud,  wished 
to  oppose  these  indispensable  encroachments.  Pe- 
tion got  rid  of  it,  by  an  18th  Brumaire  a  V Afri- 
caine  ;  and,  in  not  abusing  the  dictatorship  for  a 
single  instant,  he  manifested  that  he  exercised  it, 
not  from  taste,  but  from  necessity.  The  dissen- 
tients were  finally  convinced  of  it  themselves  ;  and 
the  constitution  being  revised  in  1816,  granted  him 
all  the  power  he  had  usurped.  Boyer  was  able  to 
continue  in  peace,  during  twenty  years,  the  central- 
izing system  of  Petion.     But,  at  length,  an  en- 


*70  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIKE. 

tirely  new  generation  had  sprung  up  ;  who  finding 
all  the  offices  occupied,  became  naturally  his  oppo- 
nents ;  and  which,  having  only  been  able  to  study 
its  7^ble  of  opposition,  in  the  French  journals,  (see 
the  community  of  idiom)  began  to  report,  these 
tirades  of  the  National^  to  its  public  of  six  hundred 
thousand  negroes,  who  could  not  comprehend  a 
word  of  them  ;  and  who,  notwithstanding,  con- 
tinued to  dance  the  calinda^  with  the  accompani- 
ments of  the  hamhoula. 

Seeing  their  success  was  so  indiflPcrent,  the  actors 
concluded,  very  naturally,  one  of  three  things  : 
that  i\\Q  paTte7're  was  stupid — or  that  it  was  sold — 
or  that  the  liberty  of  applauding  was  not  allowed.. 
To  whom  was  this  to  be  attributed  ?  Evidently  to 
President  Beyer,  with  the  governmental  concur- 
rence. This  unhappy  rafter-president,  who  had 
not  a  penny  ;  who  did  not  see  before  him  anything 
more  formidable  than  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  ; 
and  whose  whole  crime  was  having  wished  to 
transform,  too  hastily,  the  slaves  of  yesterday  into 
citizens — this  unhappy  Boyer,  we  say,  was  there- 
fore accused  of  "subsidizing"  consciences;  of 
plunging  the  Haytiens  into  "  servilism  ;"  and  of 
"  systematically  brutalizing  "  them  by  ignorance  ; 
in  order,  the  better  to  dominate  over  their  torpor. 

The  colored  class  being  the  most  lettered — or 
almost  the  only  educated  class — the  new  opposition 
recruited  itself  extensively  in  its  ranks  :  it  was  the 
inevitable  citizen  denouncing  the  government  of 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  11 

the  citizens.     Boyer  remonstrated  with  it,  of  the 
danger  and  ridicule  of  sucli  a  course,  with  much 
good    sense.      Would    Africa — pure    Africa — who 
perhaps  only  slept  with  one  ear  closed — would  it 
not  finally  awaken,  at  tlie  noise  of  these  mulatto 
quarVels  ?     But,  upon  understanding  that  the  gov- 
ernment was  alarmed,  the  opposition  only  redoubled 
their  violence  ;  and  Africa,  which  had  been  really 
awakened,  learning  also  that  it  was  frightened,  re- 
solved to  profit  by  the  occasion.     The  earthquake 
of  1842,  which  destroyed  the  city  of  the  Cap,  and 
caused  one-half  of  its  inhabitants  to  perish,  fur- 
nished it,  that  occasion.     The  country  population 
invaded  the  ruins,  and,  deaf  to  the  hissing  of  the 
conflagration,  as  well  as  the  groans  of  the  dying, 
pillaged  them  for  fifteen  days  ;  rushing,  indiffer- 
ently, on  their  way,  over  the  mulattoes  of  the  con- 
servative party — of  whom  the  opposition  had  spoken 
so   disparagingly — and  over  the  mulattoes  of  the 
opposition,  of  whom  the  government  had  spoken  so 
little  good.*    Thus,  it  was  only  necessary  to  agitate 
slightly  this  stagnant  water,  to  cause  all  the  de- 
praved and  savage  instincts  to  remount  to  the  sur- 
face, which  for  forty  years  had  been  fermenting,  at 
the  bottom.     The   opposition    only  saw   in  these 
events,  a  new  pretext  for  agitation  ;  accusing  the 
government  of  not  having  dared  to  punish  these 


*  The  black  peasants  gave  as  their  reason  :   "  The  Bon  Dieu  has 
given  us  this  ;  yesterday,  it  was  your  day  ;  to-day  is  our  day." 


72  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

abominations  ;  which,  was  unfortunately  too  true. 
But,  this  ought  to  have  heen  an  additional  reason, 
for  not  adding  to  the  feebleness  of  the  government. 
Two  or  three,  successive  coups  d'etat,  destroyed 
the  opposition,  in  the  Chamber,  It  soon  revived, 
in  the  country,  a  conspiracy,  under  the  direction 
of  an  aspirant  of  feeble  capacity,  Herard-Eiviere, 
commander  of  artillery  ;  which  was  engendered  by 
Herard-Dumesle,  an  ambitious  man  of  talent.  The 
conspiracy  broke  out  in  the  South,  by  tlie  publica- 
tion of  what  was  called  the  Manifesto  of  Praslin. 
The  signers  of  this  remarkably  written  document 
conferred  the  executive  power  upon  Herard-Eiviere ; 
at  the  same  time,  naming  the  form  of  a  provisional 
government,  of  which,  the  former  lieutenant  of 
Eigaud^  old  General  Borgella,  was  the  Dupont  do 
I'Eure.  But  Borgella,  wdiom  they  had  appointed 
through  confidence,  marched  furiously  against  the 
insurrection,  Avhich  com])licated  the  struggle  for  a 
time  ;  a  struggle  sufficiently  bloodless,  however  ; 
and,  in  Avhich,  more  ])romotions  were  exchanged, 
during  six  months,  than  gun-shots.  It  appears 
that  Herard-Eiviere  might  have  understood,  better 
than  Boyer,  how  to  make  them  ;  apparently,  be- 
cause he  knew^  less  than  Boyer  what  they  cost. 
But,  the  latter,  yielding  moreover,  as  much  to  the 
disgust  which  killed  Petion,  as  to  the  progress  of 
the  revolt,  embarked,  the  13th  of  March,  1843,  for 
Jamaica,  after  having  addressed  his  farev/ell  to  the 
country,  in  language  not  wanting  in  dignity. 


SOULOUQUE   AXD    HIS   EMPIRE.  73 

The  two  Hcravds  remained,  at  the  head  of  the 
goveriiraentj  long  enough,  to  expiate  the  attacks, 
which  liad  opened  tlie  way  to  them  ;  namely,  hy 
douhling  tlie  lists  of  the  army-staff,  which,  a  short 
time  hefore,  they  fonnd  too  crowded-;  renewing,  in 
aggravated  forms,  the  financial  measures,  which 
they  had  come  to  destroy  ;  and,  by  reviving  the  coups 
d'etat  of  Boyer,*  against  the  parliamentary  and 
municipal  power,  whose  entire  offence^  was  having 
called  in  question,  their  recent  constitutional  theo- 
ries ;  in  short,  hy  seeing  the  Spanish  party,  sepa- 
rate itself  from  Hayti,  which  they  caressed  and 
used  in  opposition,  and  which  now  forms  the  Ee- 
puhlic  of  Dominica.  But  there  is  no  24th  of  Feh- 
ruciry  without  a  day  after  ;  and  the  next  da}''  came. 

In  the  last  struggle,  of  the  mulatto  government, 
against  the  mulatto  opposition,  the  masses,  feeling 
cajoled  by  both  sides^  remained  almost  neutral. 
The  revolution  which  they  had  made,  in  their 
name,  being  once  accomplished,  there  succeeded 
many  months  of  slumber  to  the  republic.  It  was, 
at  this  juncture,  that  the  '-peal  of  Liberty  "  had 
assembled  at  Port-au-Prince  only  tw^o  hundred 
electors  out  of  six  thousand  ;  in  some  important 
localities,  not   even    a  single    one  appeared  ;  but 

*  With  an  improvciv.cnt  ^Ylli(]l  deserves  lo  le  noticed.  In  order 
to  dissolve  the  constituent  and  municipal  Assembly,  Herard-Riviere 
signified  to  the  members,  the  necessity  of  their  joining  the  army 
immediately  :  "  Tlic  first  duty,  of  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
being  to  defend  the  unity  and  the  individuality  of  the  Republic." 


^4:  SOULOUQUE   AXD    HIS   EMPIRE. 

when  tlie  new  regime  was  consolidated,  and  so- 
mucli-to-do  had  only  ended,  in  giving  some  thon- 
sand  of  epaulettes  to  the  young  mulattoes  of  the 
Herard  party,  the  ^' black  people"  understood 
that  they  had  been,  decidedly,  forgotten ;  and 
looked  out  to  the  four  cardinal  points  to  see  if  no 
one  would  offer  themselves  to  give  a  ^^  revolution  to 
he.''  Candidates  came  forward,  very  soon,  in 
crowds.  The  black  Generals,  Salomon  and  Dal- 
zon  revolted  almost  simultaneously,  the  one  in  the 
South,  the  other  at  Port-au-Prince.  Some  time 
afterwards,  the  black  General  Pierrot,  having  been 
defeated,  by  the  Dominicans,  went  to  the  North  to 
console  himself,  by  proclaiming,  there,  his  inde- 
pendence ;  and  the  West,  in  its  turn,-  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  black  General,  Guerrier.  But 
Guerrier,  like  Pierrot,  like  Dalzon,  like  Salomon^ 
was  only  black;  but,  in  the  South  there  ap- 
peared a  negro,  the  humanitarian  negro,  and  elo- 
quent speaker  of  the  school  of  Jean-Francois.  He 
was  called  Acaau,  ^^  General  in  chief  of  the  de- 
mands of  his  fellow-citizens  ;"  had  gigantic  spurs 
on  his  naked  heels  ;  and,  followed  by  a  troop  of 
bandit,  armed,  for  the  most  part,  with  sharp  sfaJces, 
in  i3lace  of  guns  ,  who  overran  the  vilhiges,  whicli 
were  depopulated  by  terror,  at  their  approacli,  in 
the  interest  of  '^unfortunate  innocence,"  and  of 
'^ihe  eventuality  of  national  education." 

Acaau   spoke   especially  ''in   the  name  of  the 
country  people,  wliich  were  roused  fi'om  the  slum- 


SOULOUQUB   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  75 

bcr,  into  which,  thcv  liad  been  plunged."  ^' What 
.says  the  cultivator" — he  would  exclaim  in  one  of 
liis  interminable  harangues,  in  which  the  relent- 
less obstinacy  of  the  peasant  was  doubled  in  the 
negro,  and  refused  to  thank  the  Herard  party  for  a 
single  one  of  his  promises — ^' What  says  the  cul- 
tivator, to  whom  lias  been  promised,  by  the  revolu- 
tion, a  diminution  of  the  price  of  his  foreign  pro- 
visions, and  the  augmentation  of  the  value  of  his 
productions?     He  says,  he  has  been  deceived!'' 

The  mulattoes,  likewise,  of  Cayes^  the  chief 
centre  of  the  last  revolution,  received  the  first  visit 
of  this  formidable  messenger  of  violence.  The 
hourgeoise  opposition,  which  had  so  long  de- 
sired the  political  awakening  of  the  people,  had  no 
longer  any  complaints  to  make.  It  was,  neverthe- 
less, gotten  rid  of,  this  time,  through  fear.  A 
common  interest  of  preservation,  grouped  the  ma- 
jority of  the  two  colors,  around  the  presidency  of 
Guerrier  ;  who,  thanks  to  his  black  skin,  could 
trample  down,  without  trouble,  the  ultra-African 
element.  But  Guerrier  died  a  few  days  afterwards, 
a  voluntary  victim  to  the  duties,,  his  new  position 
imposed  upon  him.  Although  till  then,  always 
dead-drunk  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he 
had,  though  eighty-four  years  of  age,  the  resolu- 
tion to  renounce  Tum  ;  which,  in  fact,  sometimes, 
had  transformed  him  into  a  wild  beast.  This  is 
what  killed  him. 
•Pierrot,  the  brother-in-law  of  King  Christophc, 


76  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

and  the  friend  of  Acaau — and  who,  after  Guerri^r, 
was  most  conspicuous — reached  power  in  his  turn  ; 
intermeddled  with  the  foreigners  ;  had  all  sorts  of 
difficulties  with  our  consul,  M.  Lavasseur  ;  was 
again  beaten  by  the  Dominicans  ;  and  produced, 
anew,  terror  among  the  mulattoes.  He  was  at 
bottom,  only,  a  ridiculous,  good  natured  sort  of  a 
man,  yielding  much  less  through  passion,  than 
stupidity,  to  the  pressure  of  the  ultra-African  ele- 
ment ;  but  good  natured,  after  the  fashion  of  negro 
tyrants.  Some  one,  he  had  accused,  was  con- 
demned to  three  months  imprisonment.  Pierrot, 
being  very  much  dissatisfied  with  the  sentence,  re- 
membered, after  mature  reflection^  that  the  law 
granted  the  Executive,  the  right  to  commute  pun- 
ishments ;  and,  all  radiant,  at  this  discovery,  he 
commuted,  the  three  months  imprisonment,  into 
the  punishment  of  death  ;  such  was  Pierrot ! 

His  favorite  dream  was  to  advance  in  rank,  if 
not  in  power  and  to  exchange  the  Presidency  of 
the  North,  West,  and  South,  for  a  small  royalty 
in  the  North.  But  one  fine  morning  it  happened, 
that,  without  saying  a  word,  or  firing  a  gun,  the 
blacks  and  mulattoes  gave  him  his  discharge, 
which  he  accepted,  without  a  murmur  ;  only  en- 
treating the  nation  to  leave  him,  at  least,  his  old 
appointment  of  General. 

The  scrambles  and  disorders,  which  led  to  the 
fall  of  Boyer,  were  not,  as  is  seen,  without  com- 
pensation.    From  this  triple  simultaneousness  of 


SOULOUQUE    AND    IliS   EMPIRE.  77 

Opinions,  and  interests,  which  had,  successively, 
reiinited  the  great  majority  of  the  blacks,  and  the 
minority  of  the  miilattoes,  in  a  common  thought 
of  national  unity  around  Guerrier — in  a  common 
desire  of  defense  against  Acaau — and  in  a  common 
necessity  of  harmony  and  legality  against  Pier- 
rot— there  resulted  this  fact,  as  new  as  it  was 
cheering,  to  wit :  That  the  moral  fusion,  economi- 
cal and  political,  of  the  two  colors,  was,  already, 
nearly  accomplished.  It  was  only  now  necessary, 
to  find  a  man  capable  of  developing  the  conse- 
quences of  this  new  situation  ;  a  man  who  could 
couple  together,  the  best  features  of  Christo2)he's 
system,  and  that  of  Petion  and  Boyer ;  and  could  be 
as  energetic,  as  the  first,  while  continuing  as  hu- 
mane, liberal,  and  civilizing  as  the  second.  Whe- 
ther from  reason  or  instinct,  the  national  sentiment 
was  not  mistaken,  in  calling  to  the  succession  of 
Pierrot,  the  black  General,  Kiche.  Uniting  to  the 
influence,  his  color  gave  him,  a  certain  sympa- 
tlietic  deference  for  the  mulattoes  and  the  whites, 
Riche  realized,  for  a  time,  the  ideal  of  the  Haytien 
Government.  He  knew  how  to  subdue  the  bar- 
barous element,  without  crushing  out,  under  the 
same  pressure,  the  enlightened  element  ;  and  he 
wished,  and  was  able  (without  fear  of  exciting  the 
susceptibilities  before  which  Boyer  recoiled)  on  the 
one  hand,  to  open  the  country  to  foreign  capital — 
and  on  the  other,  to  reorganize  domestic  labor. 
4 


78  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

But,  a  sudden  death*  carried  him  o&,  two  days, 
before  the  first  anniversary  of  his  elevation  to 
power. 

The  Senate,  to  wdiom  belonged  the  election  of 
Chief  Magistrate,  Avas  at  that  time  presided  over 
by  M.  Beaubrun  Ardouin  ;  this  body  during  eight 
ballotings  ivas  equally  divided,  betAveen  two  black 
candidates — Generals,  SouflPran  and  Paul.  The 
first  had  the  army  in  his  favor  ;  but  he  had  served, 
and  betrayed,  all  parties.  The  second  was  worthy 
of  continuing  the  political  task  of  Kiche  ;  but, 
being  an  improvised  General_,  and  of  recent  date, 
the  army  did  not  know  him.  From  the  very 
equality  of  their  chances  of  success,  sprung,  more- 
over, either  a  danger  of  national  schism,  or  a 
cause  of  weakness  to  the  successful  candidate. 
M.  Beaubrun  Ardouin,  cut  short  the  difficulty, 
by  proposing,  suddenly,  a  third  candidate,  to 
whom,  no  one  objected,  for  the  simple  reason, 
that  no  one  had  dreamed  of  him  ;  and  to  the  great 
surprise  of  the  new  President,  and  his  superiors, 
the  Senate  elected  General  Faustin  Souloiiqne,  the 
1st  of  March,  1847. 

He  w^as  a  good,  fat,  and  peaceable  negro.  Since 
1804,  at  which  time  he  was  a  domestic  to  General 
Lamarre,  he  had  passed  through  all  the  events  of 


*He  died  of  a  strong  dose  of  cantharides — or  "of  Love" — to 
employ  the  delicate  language  of  a  ITaytien,  wlio  related  to  me  an 
account  of  his  hisl  mom(^nt?. 


SOULOUQUK    AND    IlIS   EMPIRE.  ^9 

Ills  country's  history,  without  leaving  any  trace,  of 
himself,   either  good  or   had.     In    1810,    General 
Lamarre  was  killed,  in  defending  tlie  Mole  against 
Christophe  ;  and  Soulouque,  who  had   already  he- 
come  something,  as  aid-de-camp  of  liis  master,  was 
charged,    they    say,    with  carrying   his   heart   to 
Petion.     Petion   appointed  liim  lieutenant  of  his 
mounted    guard  ;   and   left   liim    afterwards  as   a 
legacy  to  Boyer,  like  a  piece  of  furniture  of  the 
presidential  palace.     Boyer,  in  his  turn,  appointed 
him  captain,  and  attached  him  to  the  special  ser- 
vice of  Mademoiselle  Jute,  a  Blaue  de  Poitiers,  of 
the  color  of  gold,  who  had  heen,  successively,  lady 
to   two    presidents.      Soulouque    remained,    after 
this,  completely  forgotten,  until  1843.     But  since 
that  year,  every  revolution  helped  him  with  a  pusij 
to  climh  that  mat  de  cocagne,  from  which,  he  did 
not  expect  to  disengage  a  crown.     Under  Herard 
he  hecame  chief  of  a  squadron  :  under  Guerrier, 
a  colonel ;  under  Riche,  General,  and  chief  com- 
mander of  the  palace  guard. 

Tlie  new  President  was  from  sixty,  to  sixty-two 
years  of  age  ;  but  the  clear  tone  of  his  eyes— the 
smooth  and  brilliant  jet  of  his  skin — the  dark  tint 
of  his  hair— at  first  sight,  would  not  have  allowed 
any  one  to  accord  him  more  than  forty  years.  It 
is  the  privilege  of  negroes  of  good  stock,  not  to 
begin  to  grow  old,  but  (it  an  age  when  decrepitude 
overtakes  the  whites;  and  often,  on  an  octoge- 
narian liead  to  preserve  hair  unmixed  with  any 


80  SOULOUQIJK    AND    ULS   EMPTHK. 

shade  of  silver.  The  regular  and  symetrical  bald- 
ness, wliich  marks  the  top  of  his  head,  only,  dis- 
plays to  better  advantage  the  fine  Senegal  type, 
which  may  he  said  to  he  almost  Caucasian  ; — a 
type,  which  is  completed,  by  a  nearly  straight 
nose,  lips  moderately  thick,  and  cheek-hones  of  not 
exaggerated  prominence.  From  his  eyes,  which 
are  of  extreme  softness,  and  slightly  closed,  there 
issue  rather  uncertain  flashes,  Avhich  recall,  by 
turns,  the  limpid  and  wondering  expression  of  a 
child  six  3^ears  old,  and  the  intelligent  and  drowsy 
finesse  of  a  tom-cat  going  to  sleep.  Tlie  double 
smile  which  passes  from  his  nostrils  and  joins  the 
two  extremities  of  his  mouth,  contrasts,  only  by 
its  deeply  giaven  lines,  with  the  youth  and  placid- 
ity of  the  whole  physiognomy  ;  but,  in  brief,  his 
face  attracts,  if  it  does  not  awe. 

The  insurmountable  timiditj^  of  the  new  Presi- 
dent— a  timidity  which  made  him,  sometimes^ 
stamm.er  in  a  most  unintelligent  manner,  alone  in- 
spired his  friends  with  serious  inquietudes.  But 
the  next  da}^,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Te  Deum, 
which,  according  to  usage,  consecrated  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  Presidency,  they  discovered  that  this 
was  not  his  only  moral  infirmity.  Soulouque 
having  arrived  at  the  Church,  obstinately  rejected 
the  seat  of  honor,  which  had  been  intended  for 
him,  during  this  ceremony.  They  found  out  tlie 
same  day,  the  reason  of  this  singular  repugnance: 
the  seat  in  question  was  co7iJured. 


SOULOUQUE    AND    IILS    EMPIllK.  81 

We  are  going  to  relate  how,  and  why,  this 
faideuil  was  bewitched ;  and  by  wliat  gradations, 
this  inoffensive  and  pitiful  man — who  believed,  and 
believes  still,  in  sorceries  ;  wlio  stammered  in 
speaking  through  timidity  ;  Avho  bluslied  before 
every  stranger,  so  that  it  could  be  read  under  his 
black  skin  ; — has  known  how,  to  make,  raulattoes 
and  blacks,  pass  from  smiles  to  terror— from  com- 
miserating raillery,  to  prostration— -and  to  throw 
over  his  old,  negro  shoulders  an  imperial  mantle, 
which,  all  grotesque  as  it  may  appear,  is  most  cer- 
tainly of  purple,  for  he  had  it  soaked  a  whole  year, 
in  human  blood. 


IV. 


Negro  illuminism — Devotions  of  Madame  Soiilouque — The  hunt 

for  fetiches. 


Eh  !  eh  !     Bomba,  hen,  hen  ! 

Canga  bafio  te 
Canga  moune  de  le 

Canga  do  ki  la 
Canga  li. 


I  am  ignorant  whether  I  chance  to  speak,  in 
these  words,  the  language  of  Senegal  or  Yolof,  of 
Fouli  or  Bamhara,  of  Mandingo  or  Bouriquis,  of 
Arada  or  Caplaou,  of  Ibos  or  Mokos,  of  Congo  or 
Mousombe  ;  all  that  I  can  affirm  is,  that  it  is 
negro.  When  these  incomprehensible  words,  al- 
ternately chanted  by  one,  and  many  voices,  issued 
en  cresendo  from  the  midst  of  the  night,  the  colon- 
ists of  Saint-Domingo  had  their  slaves  counted, 
and  the  criminal  police  was  put  on  foot.  These 
words  were  known  in  the  army  of  Hyacinthe  ; 
they  were  howled,  at  midnight,  around  the  great 
fires^  lit  in  the  camp  of  Biassou. 

Potion  and  Boyer,  had  nearly  succeeded  in  pre- 
venting their  utterance  ;  but  the  bands  of  Acaau 
restored  them  to  honor.     Silent  under  Guerrier — 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  83 

bold  under  Pierrot — dissimulating  under  Riclie — 
the  African  chanters,  who  perpetuate  thus  their 
traditions,  sing  them  at  their  pleasure,  since  the 
accession  of  Soulouque  ;  for  Soulouque  belongs  to 
the  vaudouXj  and  tliese  words  are  the  sacramental 
hymn  of  the  god,  Vaudoux. 

The  vaudoux  is  an  African  worship,  in  great 
honor  throughout  the  kingdom  of  Juida,  but  which 
originally  appears  to  liave  come  from  the  kingdom 
of  Arada  ;  for,  according  to  the  statement  of  Mo- 
reau  de  i?aint-Mery,  it  was  the  negroes  of  this  last 
country  who,  in  old  8aint-Domingo,  preserved 
the  principles  and  rules  of  this  religion.  They 
call,  also,  the  supernatural  being,  Vaudoux,  to 
whom  they  address  this  worship.  The  god,  Vau- 
doux, knows  all,  sees  all,  can  do  all  ;  and  consents 
to  manifest  himself  to  his  good  friends,  the  negroes, 
under  the  form  of  a  species  of  snake,  not  poison- 
ous ;  and  which  is  enclosed  in  a  small  box,  one 
side  of  which  is  latticed,  so  as  to  permit  a  view  of 
the  interior.  But  he  only  receives  their  vows  and 
ofterings — and  only  transmits  his  virtue — througli 
the  intervention  of  a  high-priest,  chosen  by  the 
votaries  themselves,  and  a  high-priestess,  desig- 
nated by  the  latter.  These  two  ministers  are 
called,  indifferently,  king  and  queen — or  master 
and  mistress — ov  j^ajxi-loi  and  mamman-loi. 

Like  all  primitive  rites,  tlie  vaudoux  nimibers, 
among  its  cremonies,  a  particular  dance,  which  the 
old  slaves  affected,  sometimes  to  execute  in  public. 


84  SOULOUQUE   AND    UIS   EMPIRE. 

It  was  succeeded  with  a  repast  at  which  they  only 
eat  poultry,  in  order  to  induce  the  police  to  believe, 
that  the  mysterious  reiinions,  about  which  they 
disturbed  themselves,  so  much,  were  the  most  in- 
offensive pastimes  in  the  world.  As  to  the  real 
vaudoux,  the  secret  is  rigorously  observed  ;  and 
this  secret  is  guarantied  by  an  oath,  conceived  in 
terms,  and  surrounded  with  circumstances,  which 
are  best  calculated  to  give  it  the  sanction  of  terror. 

^'Sometimes" — said  Moreau  de  Saint-Mery_, 
whose  description  seems  written  but  yesterday — 
'^  sometimes,  a  vase,  filled  with  the  still  Avarm 
blood  of  a  she-goat,  seals,  on  the  lips  of  the  at- 
tendants,, the  covenant  to  suffer  death  rather  tlian 
reveal  anything  ;  and  even  to  inflict  it,  upon  wlio- 
soever  shall  forget  that  he  is  solemnly  bound." 
We  have  heard  a  vaudoux-celebration  spoken  of, 
which  was  held  a  little  before,  or  just  after,  the 
transformation  of  Soulouque  into  an  Emperor, 
when,  instead  of  the  blood  of  a  she-goat,  they 
drank,  with  the  addition  of  rum,  the  blood  of  a 
beef,  killed  during  the  meeting,  to  give  greater 
effect  to  the  ceremony. 

The  initiated  assemble  in  an  out-of-the  way 
place,  and  carefully  closed,  which  was  designated 
at  their  previous  reiioion.  On  entering  it,  they 
put  off  their  sandals,  and  encircle  their  bodies 
with  handkerchiefs,  the  prevailing  color  of  which 
must  be  red,  and  their  number  seem  to  be  pro- 
portioned to  tlic  rank  uf  each  attendant.     Another 


SOULOUQUE    AND    HTS   EMPIRE.  85 

handkerchief;  entiiely  red,  encircles  tlie  forehead 
of  the  king,  like  a  diadem  ;  and  a  scarf  of  the 
same  color  would,  generally,  distinguish  the  queen. 
Both  place  themselves,  at  one  end  of  the  room, 
near  a  sort  of  altar,  on  which  is  placed  the  box 
enclosino;   the  sacred    snake.      After  adoring   the 
snake,   and    renewing   their  oath,   the   king   and 
queen,    speaking    by    turns,    extol    the    benefits, 
with  wliich  the  god  Vaudoux  loads  his  believers  ; 
and  invite    the  attendants   to  come  forward   and 
consult,    or  implore  him.       These  present   them- 
selves, by  seniority   of  rank,  and  utter  their  de- 
sires, in  which  morality  would  find  much  to  con- 
demn.      At   each   invocation,    the   vaudoux-king 
collects    himself,    and  aAvaits    the    coming  of  the 
spirit;  then,  putting,  hastily,  the  box  containing 
the  snake,  on  the  ground,  he  makes  the  queen  get 
on  it,  who,  by  the  contact,  is  seized  with  a  convul- 
sive trembling,  and  renders  his  oracles — lavishing, 
according  to  occasion,  promises  or  threats.     The 
consultation  being  finished,  each  one  of  the  dis- 
ciples deposits,  in  a  covered  hat,  his  tribute,  and 
the  proceeds  of  these  collections  constitute  the  pub- 
lic and  secret  budget  of  the  association.    The  king 
and    queen    transmit,    immediately,    the    general 
orders  of  the    god    Vandoux,   and  a  new  oath   of 
obedience  is  taken. 

It  is  at  this  stage  of  their  ceremonies  tiiat  they 
proceed,  if  necessary,  to  admit  new  members  ;  on 
which  admission,  the  god  Vaudoux  has  been  pre- 


86  SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

viously  consulted.  The  applicant  is  placed  in  a 
great  circle,  traced  with  charcoal.  The  king  puts, 
in  his  hand,  a  package  of  herbs,  horse-hair,  and 
fragments  of  horns  or  hones,  and,  tapping  him 
lightly  on  the  head,  with  a  staff  of  wood,  intones 
the  African  song  which  begins  this  chapter.  The 
assembly,  repeat  it,  in  chorus,  and  the  novice,  who 
begins  to  tremble  and  dance  (what  is  called  7nonter 
vaudoux)  soon  reaches,  with  the  help  of  rum,  such 
a  paroxism  of  nervous  exultation,  that,  occasion- 
ally, he  only  recovers  his  senses,  and  ceases  to 
dance,  under  the  impression  of  vigorous  blows  of  a 
cow-hide.*  If,  in  the  wanderings  of  this  epileptic 
dance,  the  novice  crosses  the  circle,  the  chanters 
are  silent  in  an  instant,  and  the  king  and  queen 
turn  their  backs,  to  disperse  the  evil  presage. 

The  ordeal  having  terminated,  the  recipiendiary 
is  admitted  to  take  the  oath  before  the  altar  of  the 
snake ;  and  the  dance  of  the  vaudoux  is  com- 
menced. The  king  touches  with  his  feet  or  his 
hands  the  sanctuary  of  the  snake^  and  gradually 


*  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  physical  insensibility  is  absolute,  A 
person,  worthy  of  belief,  told  me  that  he  saw  a  young  girl,  while 
manifesting  Vandoux,  leap  with  a  single  nervous  bound,  four  or  five 
feet  high,  make  a  half  turn  in  the  air,  and  fall  vertically  on  her 
head,  without  the  shock,  which  would  have  broken  a  buffalo's 
skull,  causing  her  the  least  injury.  In  a  nocturnal  promenade 
through  the  environs  of  Port-au-Prince,  I  happened  to  surprise 
some  details  of  a  Vandoux  initiation  ;  and  I  saw  the  ^j^a^^a-Zoi  exe- 
cute before  the  recipiendiary  gestures,  like  ihQ  passes^  by  which  our 
magnetizers  pretend  to  remove  analagous  effects  of  insensibility. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS    EMPIRE.  87 

all  the  upper  parts  of  his  body  tremble  and  work 
the  wrong  way,  as  if  they  were  dislocated.     Then 
a  sympathetic  effect  is  produced,  which  physiology 
can  scarcely  call  in  question,  after  what  we  know 
of  tlie  convulsionary  sects  of  Europe  ;  and  which 
even  those  whites,  who  have  been  surprised  prying 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  vaudoux,  have  not  always 
escaped.     The  excessive  commotion,  which  agitates 
tlie  head   and  shoulders  of  the  vaudoux-king,  is 
transmitted,   by  degrees,    to    all   the   attendants. 
Each  one  of  them  is  soon  the  victim  of  a  dizziness, 
which  the  queen,  partaking  of  also,  keeps  up,  by 
ao-itatins:  the  little  bells,  which  ornament  the  box 
of  the    snake.       Laughter,    sobs,    shrieks,    faint- 
ings,  bitings,  add  their  delirium  to  the  increasing 
madness  of  the  fever,  caused  by  rum.     The  more 
feeble  end,  by  falling  down,  as  dead,  on  the  spot ; 
and  the  hoarse  bacchanals,  bear  them  away,  all 
the  time  dancing,  and   turn   into    a  neighboring 
place  ;  where,  sometimes,  under  the  triple  excite- 
ment of  promiscuousness,  drunkenness,  and  dark- 
ness, scenes  are  enacted,  to  make  the  teeth  gnash 
with  horror,  at  all  the  insensible  gods  of  Africa. 

This  is  the  classic  vaudoux.  This  is  the  secret 
of  that  mysterious  power  which,  in  1791-92, 
transformed,  in  a  single  night,  the  indifferent,  and 
scattered  slaves,  into  furious  masses  ;  and  drove 
them,  almost  unarmed,  into  those  incredible  com- 
bats, where  the  stupidity  of  courage  disconcerted 
tactics,  and  where  naked  flesh  ended  by  using  iron. 


88  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

The  influence  whicli  the  vaucloiix  chiefs  exercise 
over  the  other  memhers  of  the  sect,  is,  in  fact, 
without  hounds.  ''  There  was  not  one  of  these," 
says  the  writer  ahove  quoted,  '^Avho  would  not 
have  preferred  anything  to  the  evils,  with  which 
he  was  menaced,  if  he  did  not  go  assiduously  to 
the  assemhlies,  and  if  he  did  not  hlindly  ohey  what 
Vaudoux  required  of  him.  We  have  seen  that  fear 
had  operated  sufficiently  to  deprive  them  of  the 
use  of  reason  ;  and  in  their  fits  of  frenzy,  they  ut- 
tered howls,  and  fled  from  the  presence  of  men,  so 
as  to  excite  pity."  Belief  in  the  vaudoux  worship 
is  so  much  the  more  readily  preserved,  as,  in  the 
religious  opinions  of  the  hlack  masses,  and  even  of 
a  portion  of  the  mulattoes,  it  does  not  exclude 
Catholic  orthodoxy,  for  which  the  Haytien  people 
profess  a  very  sincere  fervor,  if  it  is  not  very  en- 
lightened. We  will  sj)eak,  presently,  upon  what 
a  deplorahle  clergy,  or  rather  soi-disant  clergy,  is 
devolved  the  mission  of  clearing  up  this  chaos,  en- 
gendered in  African  imaginations. 

In  the  meantime,  this  thirst  for  the  marvelous, 
which  we  find  at  the  heginning  and  termination  of 
every  civilization  is  derived,  in  Hayti,  from  both 
religions.  In  the  country,  especially,  we  often  see 
in  the  same  house  Christian  baptisms,  alternating 
with  Mandingo  funerals.  On  more  than  one  breast, 
the  Catholic  scapulary  hangs,  by  the  same  cord, 
with  the  maman-hila  (an  amulet  of  small  lime- 
stones, in  a  bag)  of  the    national  sorceries  ;  and 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  89 

the  old  nt'o-ress  who  dreads  the  visits  of  a  zomhi^ 
(ghost)  goes,  indifferently,  to  ask  masses  of  the 
cure,  or  conjurations  of  the  papas-vaudoux.  Either 
they  suhject  themselves  to  the  influences,  in  the 
midst  of  which,  they  live — or  they  find,  (which 
is  most  probable,)  the  papas  fall,  more  readily, 
into  the  pleonasms  of  negro  devotion,  holding  at 
the  choice  of  their  credulous  flock,  wangas,  neu- 
vaiiies,  fetiche-lifeguards,  and  hallowed  wax- tapers. 
It  was  in  this  fantastic  world,  all  peopled  with 
zombis  and  presages,  things  marvelous  and  fright- 
ful, that  they  went  to  find  Soulouque.  Is  it  at  all 
wonderful  that  he  issued  from  it  a  little  bewil- 
dered and  amazed  ;  and  that  at  the  moment  of  seat- 
ing himself,  on  the  chair  of  Boyer,  he  looked  well, 
lest  he  might  sit  down  on  a  conjuration  ?  Not  one 
of  the  four  Presidents^  who  had  succeeded  each 
other  on  this  seat,  since  the  year  1844,  attained  the 
end  of  a  year  ;  two  of  them,  had  been  smitten, 
with  forfeiture — two  others,  with  death,  before  the 
end  of  this  term  ;  and  the  death  of  Kiche,  espe- 
cially, happening  just  on  the  eve  of  the  anniversary 
of  his  accession,  confirmed  the  people,  as  well  as 
the  most  competent  members  of  Haytien  sorcery, 
in  the  opinion,  that  he  had  been  necessarily  conjured 
there.     I  know  whites,  who  have  been,  some  little 


*Xot  long  ago,  some  say,  a  zomhi  appeared  on  a  palm-tree  in  the 
vicinity  of  f^oiilouque's  palace;  others  say  it  was  a  virgin,  dressed 
in  white. 


90  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

affected  by  tliis  remark.  In  escaping  this  first 
danger,  Soulouque  was  not  yet  at  the  end  of  his 
inquietude.  Was  it,  indeed,  to  the  chair?  Was 
it  not  ratlier,  to  the  national  palace,  itself — that 
this  nameless  influence  was  attached,  which  was 
so  fatal  to  the  four  last  Presidents  ?  Opinion 
was  very  much  divided,  in  this  respect ;  but  the 
time  liad  come,  when  the  newly  chosen  Execu- 
tive was  about  to  refuse,  plainly,  to  inhabit  the 
palace,  whose  tenants  only  left  it  by  expulsion, 
or  without  life.  A  precious  revelation  occurred, 
however,  to  calm  tliis  uncertainty,  and  tliese  ap- 
preliensions. 

In  the  first  rank  of  the  sorcerers  of  Port-au- 
Prince,  there  figured  a  colored  woman,  who  drew 
the  cards,  made  stones  and  snakes  speak,  preserved 
children  from  lock-jaw^  and  assured  for  life,  or  a 
limited  time,  against  the  infidelity  of  husbands 
and  lovers.  Slie  burned,  also,  before  a  statuette  of 
the  Virgin,  a  given  number  of  small  wax-candles ; 
and,  if  one  of  them  had  a  coal  on  it,  or  was  pre- 
maturely extinguished,  she  conscientiously  warned 
the  consultants,  who  paid  her  to  recommence  the 
incantation.  Madame  8oulouque^  wlio  was  one  of 
her  most  assiduous  clients,  sent  for  lier.  She  shut 
herself  up,  burnt  wax-tapers,  exhausted  all  the 
resources  of  the  vaudoux  liturgy,  and  the  sorceress, 
finally,  predicted,  that  Boyer  iiad  concealed,  on  his 
departure,  in  the  palace  gardens,  a  doll,  of  which 
she  gave  the  minutest  description  ;  and,  by  virtue 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HLS   EMPIRE.  91 

of  which,  GYvry  successor  of  tlio  hitter,  was  con- 
demned, never  to  reach  liis  thirteenth  month  of 
power.  Soulouque  had  trembled  before  this  un- 
known evil  ;  now  that  it  was  defined,  he  attacked 
it  bravely  in  front  ;  and,  by  order  of  His  Excel- 
lency      tliey  began  to   dig    up  the 

ground,  to  discover  tlie  fetiche  buried  by  the  Ma- 
chiavellian Boyer.* 

Let  us  speak  seriously  ;  for  this  matter  is  about 
to  become  the  key  of  tlie  most  grave  and  lament- 
able events  ;  and,  it  is  of  consequence  to  deter- 
mine well,  the  proportion  of  responsibility  which 
accrues  to  each  one.  The  ill-suppressed  laughter, 
with  which  the  enlightened  part  of  tlie  mulattoes 
and  the  blacks,  welcomed  these  anecdotes  of  the 
palace,  were  at  the  same  time,  an  injustice  and  a 
fault.  Of  what  consequence  was  it,  after  all,  that 
a  poor  unlettered  negro,  preserved,  in  his  ftimily 
privacy,  the  worship  of  his  paternal  creed.  The 
Haytien  midst  being  given,  should  it  not  congratu- 
late itself,  even,  on  the  community  of  superstitions, 
which  morally  attaches^  to  the  governor,  four-fifths 
of  his  subjects,  and  rallies  to  official  action  those 
influences,  which,  since  the  time  of  Acaau,  had 
become  a  dangerous  lever  of  sedition  and  brigand- 
age ?      The   essential  matter   is,   that   Soulouque 

*  About  the  same  perio'l  a  priest  was  accused  of  having,  one  day, 
while  officiating  before  Soulouquc,  presented  the  Uo\y  Sacrament, 
reversed,  in  order  to  cause  Sonlouquc's  death  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  priest  was  banished. 


'ii'A  SOUl.OUqUK    AND    HIS    EMPTKl-:. 

iiuderstood  liow  to  strenglitlien  himsell",  by  tliese 

influences,   witliout   fortifying   them  ;    and,    from 

this   point   of    view,    he    offered    every    desirable 

guarantee. 

Under  Pierrot  himself — Pierrot,   the    friend   of 

Acaau — Soulouqne  went  to  Cayes  to  arrest,  in  per- 
son, tlie  principal  lieutenants  of  the  latter,  Avith- 
out  excepting  the  vaudoux  })rophet  of  the  band, 
brother  Joseph.  From  thence,  he  i-epaired  to  the 
seat  of  Acaau' s  military  authority  ;  had  the  prin- 
cipal mulattoes  brought  before  him  ;  and  told 
them,  in  the  very  presence  of  the  wordy  bandit: 
'^  The  mulattoes  liave  as  much  right  in  this  coun- 
try, as  the  blacks.  If  General  Acaau  oppresses 
you  take  a  gun  and  protect  yourselves  V 

The  debuts  of  Soulouque,  as  president,  proved 
more  peremptorily  still,  that  he  designed  to  have 
nothing  in  common,  politically,  with  this  ultra- 
African  party,  with  which  liis  superstitions  recon- 
ciled him.  I  have  said  that  the  fundamental  idea 
of  this  party  was  hatred  of  France — a  hatred,  by 
which,  it  sought  to  maintain  the  only  obstacle, 
which,  since  1825,  could  oppose  white  immigra- 
tion ;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  it,  an  increase  of 
the  colored  class.  This  vras  tlie  great  point  with 
it.  But  the  first  message  of  Soulouque,  asserted 
clearlv,  witli  a  real  effusion  of  c;ratitude,  the  s:ood 
conduct  of  the  French  Q'overnment. 

o 

This  desire  of  happy  relations  with  us,  we  will 
see,  became  one  of  Soulouque' s  fixed  ideas,  and 


SOULOUQUE  AND  UIS  EMPIRE.  93 

continued  witli  liini,  oven  till  tlic  awakening  of 
those  ultra- African  passiony,  of  wliich  he  would 
soon  become  the  bloody  personification.  Such  a 
desire,  we  say,  was  on  his  part,  so  much  the  more 
meritorious,  as,  the  only  political  idea  which,  until 
then,  had  lodged  in  his  head  responded  to  dia- 
metrically opposite  tendencies.  The  good,  peace- 
able, discreet  Cai)tain  Soulouque  had,  in  fact,  for 
once,  in  his  life,  emancipated  himself,  even  to  en- 
tering into  a  cons])iracy  ;  and,  what  is  stranger,  a 
conspiracy  against  Boyer,  whom  some  ardent  pat- 
riots wished  to  punish,  for  permitting  the  inde- 
pendence of  Hayti  to  be  granted  by  Charles  X.,  in 
place  of  wresting  it  from  us.  Soon  after  his  mes- 
sage, the  project  of  a  law,  tlie  idea  of  which  ran 
back  to  Riche,  developed  this  tacit  conclusion,  by 
proposing  to  legalize  marriages  between  the  Hay- 
tiens  and  foreigners.  The  explosion  of  regrets, 
which  the  death  of  the  latter  had  excited,  made  a 
profound  impression  on  the  mind  of  Soulouque. 
To  imitate  the  last  president  in  everything  was  his 
great  care  ;  a  care,  which,  displayed  itself  at  times, 
in  acts  of  naive  and  touching  good-nature.  One 
day,  for  example,  Soulouque  rose  up,  saying  : 
"When  General  Riche  became  President,  he  decreed 
a  funeral  service,  in  honor  of  General  Borgella, 
who  was  his  benefactor  ;  and,  it  was  a  praise- 
worthy affair.  Me  also — I  wish  to  do  a  good  act, 
by  ordering  a  service  for  General  Lamarre,  who 
was  my  benefactor." 


94  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

Andj  in  fact,  this  service  had  the  proportions  of 
of  a  national  solemnity.  After  the  ceremony,  he 
had  a  reception  at  the  palace  ;  and.  the  President, 
attended  hy  the  parents  of  General  Lamarre,  pre- 
sented them,  successively,  to  all  the  authorities  of 
the  city,  saying  :  ^'This  is  the  family  of  my  bene- 
factor, and  it  is  my  family." 

Put  this  immense  necessity  for  approbation,  in 
conflict  with  raillery,  and  a  terrible  shock  is  fore- 
seen. The  negro  fears  ridicule,  precisely  because 
he  loves  to  administer  it ;  and  Soulouque  must 
have  been  so  much  the  more  sensible  of  it,  that  the 
sneers  came,  in  this  case,  from  the  enlightened 
class,  the  representative  of  which,  like  Riche,  he 
aspired  to  become.  He  made  marked  efforts,  by 
dint  of  attention  and  good  will,  to  disarm  the 
j)leasantries,  provoked  by  his  superstitious  terrors  ; 
but,  knowing,  neither  how  to  write,  nor  read — ig- 
norant of  all  the  details  of  administration — examin- 
ing, witliout  ever  finding  bottom,  into  an  ocean  of 
affairs,  the  least  one  of  which  was  an  unknown 
world  to  him — he  grew  more  amazed  than  ever, 
from  these  useless  excursions  into  practical  life  ; 
and  a  profound  feeling  of  his  incapacity  which  be- 
came even  exaggerated,  added  to  the  sufferings  of 
liis  African  vanity.  The  ministers,  fortunately, 
exercised  an  absolute  discretion  over  the  official  in- 
geniousness  of  his  Excellency  ;  it  happened  that 
something  of  it  abvays  got  to  the  public,  and  their 
sneers  were  redoubled.     Soulouquc  then  changed 


SOULOUGUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  95 

his  tactics  ;  to  the  timid  and  hiimhle  questioner, 
who  spelled,  letter  by  letter,  the  why  and  where- 
fore of  the  most  trifling  passing  matter,  there  suc- 
ceeded the  conceited  man.  If  a  minister,  or  the 
chief  of  a  division,  came  to  read  him  a  dispatch  : 
^'  Let  us  sec  !  "  said  the  President,  in  Creole  ;  and 
taking  proudly  the  manuscript,  he  ran  over,  for 
some  moments,  witli  an  expression  at  once  reflect- 
ing and  disdainful,  the  mysterious  black  lines  of 
the  papier  pale  (a  speaking  paper) ;  then  he  re- 
folded it  carefully,  adding,  with  a  majestic  assur- 
ance :    '^Well!  I  will  think  of  it." 

Indeed,  the  unhappy  man  thought  of  it  so  much, 
tliat  the  papier  pale,  finally,  burned  his  hands. 
Then,  to  escape  the  tortures  of  a  curiosity,  with 
which,  the  fear  of  sorcery  was  always  mingled,  he 
ordered  some  employee — whose  discretion  had  been 
previously  proved,  by  means  of  an  innocent  espoin- 
age,  of  wliich  every  one  was  aware — and  made  him 
read  the  dis]3atcli.  If  a  vascillating  hesitation 
manifested  itself  in  the  voice  of  the  reader :  '^  Well, 
dear  !  "  said  Soulouque,  softly  :  and,  after  having 
noted,  in  his  inflexible  memory,  both  the  name  of 
the  latter  and  the  suspected  passage,  he  appealed 
to  another  employee,  so  as  to  compare  the  first 
reading. 

A  dangerous  climax  began  :  to  the  fear  of  spirits 
was  evidently  added,  with  Soulou([ue,  tlie  mistrust 
of  men  ;  and  it  was  necessary,  after  all,  to  stop 
there.      In   this  une{[ual   conflict,   which  he  sus- 


96  .SuULUUCiUK   AND    IILS   EMPIRE. 

tained  against  unknown  powers,  could  he  regard 
as  friendly  that   portion  of  tlie   spectators ,   who 
laughed,  instead  of  coming  to  his  aid?     A  signifi- 
cant thing,  and  Avith  whicli  he  ought  to  liave  been 
struck  at  first — the  sorcery  of  tlie  garden  Avas  the 
work  of  a  mulatto.     Hence  this  conclusion  w^as  in- 
evitable :  that  the  mulattoes  were  half  accountable, 
with  the  undiscoverable  doll.     On  the  contrary,  if 
an  expression,  of  encouragement  and  sympathy, 
was  manifested  to  sustain  Soulouque,  it  came  es- 
pecially from  the  black  portion  of  the  spectators. 
So  many  affinities  must  necessarily  end  in  contact; 
and  tlie  lowest  depth  of  vaudoux,  rising  by  degrees 
to  the  surface,  finally  overflowed  the  presidential 
palace.     I  leave  it  to  be  imagined,  whetlier  the 
antipathies  of  caste — the  principle  refuge  of  which 
was   til  is   association — profited   by   these   circum- 
stances.   Soulouque  was  so  much  the  moie  accessi- 
ble to  the  new  influences,  which  surrouiided  him, 
because  he  found  there  persons  to  talk  with,  un- 
reservedly, and  in  pure  Creole,  whose  superiority 
of  intellect  did  not  humiliate  his  incurable  vanity. 
The  first  revelation  they  had  of  these  influences, 
was  the  sudden  renewal  of  the  project  relative  to 
legalizing  marriages   between  Haytiens  and  for- 
eigners.    Already  there  had  escaped,  from  Sou- 
louque,  some  words  like  these  :    "I  did  not  ask  to 
be  President ;  I  did  not  dream  of  it ;  and  I  know 
that  I  was  not  prepared  for  it  ;  but  since  tlie  con- 


SOUr.ol'QlIK    AM)    HIS    KMI'IUK.  UT 

stitutiou  has  called  iiic%  wliy  do  iliey  wish  to  lid 
themselves  of  me?  " 

It  is  ill  the  nature  of  gratuitous  prejudice,  sooner 
or  later,  to  cease  to  1)l^  gratuitous  ;  and  the  culti- 
vated class,  from  wliicli  he  had  isolated  himself, 
hy  his  peri)etual  suspicions,  finally,  took  him  at 
his  word.  This  class  restrained  themselves  so 
mucli  the  less  in  the  expression  of  their  fears,  he- 
cause  the  increasing  ascendancy  of  the  ultra- Afri- 
can coterie,  was  much  moie  attrihuted  to  the 
incurahle  feebleness  of  Soulouque,  than  to  any 
menacing  disposition  on  its  part.  In  short,  the 
frogs  asked  for  a  king.  In  truth,  this  opposition 
presented  nothing  serious  ;  for  the  political  necessi- 
ties, which  caused  the  election  of  Souloucj[ue,  still 
remained.  But,  as  they  did  not  conspire,  and 
their  dissatisfaction  interpreted  itself  into  street 
gossip — tlieccho  only  came  the  oftener,  and  sooner, 
to  the  ears  of  the  ''hlack  people;"  who,  being 
already  incensed,  by  the  incredulity  of  the  well- 
dressed  people,  at  the  places  of  sorcery,  went  every 
day  to  carry  to  the  ''President"  this  new  proof 
of  the  complicity  of  tlie  mulattoes,  with  the  yet 
undiscovered  doll  of  the  garden.  Soulouque  be- 
came more  and  more  gloomy  from  it.  ''I  knov/," 
said  he,  ''that  they  cons[)ire  against  me;  but, 
when  I  think  of  all  it  costs  a  family,  to  make  a 
man  of  fwenf/j-Jive  years  of  age,  I  have  not  the 
courage  to  act."  .  .  .  Sublime  words  these, 
in  that  moutli  ! — but  res])onding  to  a  thought,  in 


OS  SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIUI-:. 

which  strange  struggles  were  betrayed.  At  such 
times,  Soulouqiie  recommenced  witli  new  ardor 
the  excavations  of  tlie  garden  ;  and  the  sceptics 
lauglied  more  lieartily  than  ever,  without  think- 
ing, that  hy  dint  of  digging  up  tlie  ground,  he 
could  the  more  easily  open  their  graves  in  it. 


V. 

Similien. 

It  was  in  tlie  midst  of  these  inexpressible  suffer- 
ings, his  ears  intent  upon  every  noise,  and  every 
conceit — and  trembling,  at  every  step,  lest  he 
might  walk  over  a  consj^iracy,  or  two  cross  lines — 
that  the  President  passed  the  first  five  months  of 
power.  Towards  the  end  of  July, ^847 — whether 
he  wished  to  escape,  by  absence,  from  the  invisible 
look  of  the  fetiche,  or  that,  diverted  from  this  be- 
setment  by  some  alarming  rumors,  which  came 
from  the  Northern  part  of  the  republic,  he  seized 
anxiously  the  hope  of  finding  himself  face  to  face 
with  enemies  of  flesh  and  bone — Soulouque  re- 
solved to  make  a  voyage  to  the  Cap.  He  expected 
to  leave  the  2*7th,  but  here  on  the  26th,  at  the  end 
of  the  session  of  the  8enate,  he  received  the  visit 
of  his  ministers,  who  froze  him  with  terror,  by 
handing  him  their  collective  resignations. 

Was  this  the  signal  of  a  conspiracy? — or  rather^ 
did  MM.  Paul,  Celigny,  Ardouin,  Dupuy,  and 
Larochel,  believe  the  moment  had  arrived,  for 
til  em  to  separate  their  fate  from  that  of  an  unfor- 
tunate man,  who  contended  witli  supernatural 
powers?     Such   was,   no   doubt,    the    double   sus- 


100  SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

picion  wliicli  assailed  his  mind  ;  and  Souloii(|uo 
askedj  with  a  troubled  air,  if  it  was  a  question  of 
a  new  revolution? — adding,  that  he  was  ready,  if 
they  wished  it,  to  resign  his  power.  These  gen- 
tlemen endeavored  to  reassure  him,  hy  explaining 
that,  their  Avithdrawal  was  only  occasioned,  by  the 
enormous  reductions,  which  the  Senate  had  made 
in  the  budget ;  and^  anticipating,  themselves,  his 
susj^icions,  they  offered  to  accompany  him,  on  his 
journey,  although  they  had  resigned  ;  a  proposi- 
tion, which  His  Excellency,  accei)ted  literally,  with 
marked  readiness. 

Soulouque,  therefore,  left  in  tlie  night  of  the 
27tli  July,  very  happy  to  lead  in  leash  his  four 
hostages  ;  but  as  lie  could  not  assure  himself,  by 
the  same  proceeding,  of  the  twenty  and  some 
thousand  accomplices  of  tlie  doll,  which  lie  left  be- 
hind him,  lie^  confidentially,  charged  Similien,  the 
general  of  the  black  brigade,  which  kept  guard 
over  the  palace,  to  hold  these  enemies  in  check 
until  his  return. 

Similien  executed,  so  conscientiously  his  instruc- 
tions, that  in  less  than  two  weeks,  after  tlic  depar- 
ture of  the  President,  the  colored  inhabitants  of 
Port-au-Prince  crowded  into  the  consulates  to  im- 
plore the  protection  of  their  flags.  The  same  day, 
and  even  hour,  at  Jacmel,  Cayes,  Jeremie,  Leo- 
gane — from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  wlude  South- 
ern peninsula — the  stores  were  closed,  and  a  violent 
panic  was  exhibted,  among  all  the  people  of  color. 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  101 

To  compreliend  this  occurrence,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  describe  Similien. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  conspiracy  which  was 
formed^  on  the  sul)ject  of  the  ordinance  of  1825, 
against  Boyer.  The  future  President,  only  ad- 
hered to  it  from  necessity,  and  without  knowing 
what  lie  did  ;  for  which,  he  was  held  to  account. 
Mademoiselle  Jute  answered  in  person  for  the 
fidelity  of  Captain  Soulouque  ;  and  it  was  on  this 
very  occasion  that  she  attached  him  to  her^  by 
giving  him  the  superintendence  of  a  sugar-mill  she 
owned. 

The  negro  Similien,  who  held  in  the  corps,  a 
grade  superior  to  that  of  Soulouque,  was  also  of 
that  conspirac}^ ;  and  his  complicity  was  sufficiently 
evident  and  conclusive,  to  merit  his  losing  his 
head  ;  but  the  good-natured  Boyer  contented  him- 
self, with  removing  him  from  his  corps,  and  put- 
ting him,  with  the  same  rank,  into  another  regi- 
ment. He  even  preserved  to  Similien,  the  contract 
to  furnish  the  army-clothes,  because  Similien  was 
a  tailor.  At  the  fall  of  the  tyrant ,  Similien  never- 
theless passed,  as  a  victim,  into  the  Herard  party, 
and  with  all  the  j^rofits  belonging  to  his  employ- 
ment. Among  the  four  or  five  negro  generals  who 
rose,  successively,  against  Herard-Riviere,  there 
was,  as  we  will  remember,  a  General  Dalzon.  He 
was  killed  in  tlie  affair  ;  and  the  negro  Colonel, 
Mercure,  being  imjdicated  in  the  conspiracy,  was 
condemned  to  death,  witli  his  own  son,  whom  he 


102  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

had  drawn  into  it.  The  hitter  was  the  godson  of 
Similien,  who  thus  found  himself  the  compere  of 
Colonel  Mercure,  a  title  more  sacred  in  the  colonies_, 
and,  especially,  among  the  old  slave  population, 
than  those  created  hy  ties  of  blood. 

Similien  declared,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that 
Herard  was  justified  in  shooting  ^^  compere  Mer- 
cure, hitt  to  put  the  son  to  death  because  lie  had 
obeyed  his  father  f" — this  upset  all  his  notions  of 
justice  and  injustice  ;  for,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
negroes,  there  is  no  limit  known  to  paternal  author- 
ity. Mercure's  son  was  shot,  in  spite  of  the  sup- 
plications, and  menaces,  of  Similien.  He  became 
furious  against  Herard ;  joined  the  schism  of  Guer- 
rier  ;  and  began,  from  that  time,  to  drink  frightful 
quantities  of  rum,  to  console  himself  because  of  the 
injustice  of  men. 

Guerrier  having  become  President,  had  Acaau 
arrested,  and  put  on  trial.  "  It  is  just  !"  Similien 
said  sententiously  ;  "Acaau  had  no  right  to  kill 
the  mulattoes."  But  on  learning  that  they  pur- 
sued Acaau,  even  on  the  subject  of  the  brigand- 
ages, he  had  committed  under  Herard-Riviere,  and 
against  the  mulatto  partizans  of  the  latter,  Similien 
became  terribly  angry.  In  his  opinion  a  govern- 
ment, which  owed  its  existence  to  the  downfall  of 
the  Rivieriste  party,  ought  rather  to  thank  the  ac- 
cused for  what  he  had  done  against  it  ;  and  follow 
ing  the  thread  of  this  idea,  with  the  relentless 
persistence  of  a  drunken  man,  he  ended,  after  eight 


SOULOTTQTJE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE.  103 

days,  in  publicly  eulogizing  Acaau.  This  fraction 
of  the  colored  class,  which  Similien,  had  thus, 
given  cause  to  exclaim,  accused  him  of  adopting  the 
hatreds  of  caste,  entertained  by  the  dreadful  bandit. 

The  accusation  went  straight  to  the  impression- 
able heart  of  Similien.  Exasperated,  tliat  the 
mulattoes  did  not,  readily,  apprehend  the  distinc- 
tion made  by  him,  between  their  color,  which 
ought  to  respect  Acaau,  and  tlieir  Bivierisfe  opin- 
ions, which  pointed  them  out  to  his  justice,  he  con- 
cluded not  to  compromise  his  dignity  with  so  much 
ingratitude.  Excited  by  daily  altercations,  Simi- 
lien, finally,  vowed  a  furious  hatred  to  all  the  men 
of  color — to  some  because  they  were  Rivitristes,  to 
others  because  their  complexion  reminded  liim  of 
that  of  the  Rivleristes.  This  liatred  embalmed  in 
a  constantly  renewed  bath  of  alcohol,  was  pre- 
served pure,  until  the  accession  of  Soulouque. 

At  that  time,  Similien  was  second  in  command 
of  tlic  guard  ;  of  which,  as  I  have  mentioned,  Sou- 
louque was  chief  commander.  Judging  by  his  own 
example,  and  by  that  of  Riche  and  Boyer,  that, 
from  this  last  grade,  there  was  but  another  step  to 
tlie  Presidency,  Soulouque  found  it  prudent  to  pull 
up  tlie  ladder  after  himself.  He  did  not  reestab- 
lisli  this  grade ;  and  Similien  continuing  only 
second  in  command,  found  himself,  thus,  placed 
under  tlie  immediate  orders  of  tlie  new  President. 
Hence  tliere  were  daily  and  liourly  relations  be- 
tween them,  to  wliicli  old  souvenirs  of  companion- 


104  SOULOUQUE    AND    IIIS   EMPIRE. 

ship  gave  a  new  character  of  intilnac3^  Similien 
did  not  neglect,  as  was  thought,  this  opportunity 
of  revenging  himselfj  on  the  ingratitude  of  the 
mulattoes ;  and  the  superstitious  prejudices  of  Sou- 
louque,  only,  disposed  him  to  receive,  too  readily, 
the  impressions  of  his  confidant.  In  truth,  the 
latter  entertained,  a  rehellious  incredulity,  with 
respect  to  card-cutters,  and  feticlies ;  and  this  very 
thing  must  have,  finally,  ruined  hira.  But  Sou- 
louque  w^as,  only,  the  more  willing  to  j)articipate 
in  his  suspicions.  The  sceptical  Similien  Avas 
almost  an  ally  in  the  enemies  camp.  This  is  the 
reason,  why  Soulouque  left  him  during  his  ahsence, 
hesides  the  command  of  the  guard,  that  of  the  fort 
which  commanded  the  city  ;  and  further,  (as  they 
afterwards  knew),  certain  secret  instructions,  which 
authorized  him  to  act  according  to  his  pleasure,  in 
case  of  eventualities,  the  urgency  of  which  was  left 
entirely  to  his  own  discretion. 

But  from  the  first  day  of  his  confidential  dicta- 
torship, Similien  discovered  two  things  :  first,  that 
the  guard  was  almost  the  only  regular  force  in  the 
city  ;  second,  that  the  hatteries  of  the  fort  could,  if 
necessary,  hurn  and  batter  down  the  city  ;  hence  he 
concluded,  with  the  last  evidence,  that  the  man,  who 
united  the  command  of  the  guard  with  that  of  the 
fort,  Avas  master  of  the  city,  people  and  property. 

I  hasten  to  say,  that  if  the  first  impression  of 
Similien,  at  this  discovery,  was  hut  little  encourag- 
ing to  the  mulattoes,  the  second  was  a  thought  of 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  105 

clemency.  Seized  with  admiration,  at  the  spectacle 
of  his  own  magnanimity,  he,  unfortunately,  did 
not  resist  tlie  desire  of  sharing  this  admiration 
with  others.  And  in  order,  that  the  whole  merit, 
he  deserved  for  pardoning,  should  he  hotter  under- 
stood, he  concluded  that  his  full  authority  for 
threatening  should  he,  previously,  well  estahlished. 
Therefore,  addressing,  hy  turns,  the  soldiers  of  the 
guard,  who  were  consigned  to  the  national  palace, 
and  the  hands  of  wretches  wlio  heseiged  the  iron- 
gratings,  and  watched,  perhaps,  for  some  sinister 
signal  in  the  flood  of  incoherent  words^  which  es- 
caped the  drunkenness  of  the  orator — Similien 
hoasted  loudly  of  the  discretionary  powers  he  had 
received.  The  well  known  character  of  this  per- 
sonage, did  not  permit  the  least  misapprehension, 
as  to  the  nature  of  these  powers,  real  or  pretended  ; 
nor  as  to  the  use  he  would  make  of  them,  upon  oc- 
casion. The  wealthy  class  uttered  loud  complaints. 
Thus  the  mulattoes  persisted^  in  only  divining 
halfofSimilien's  intentions  ;  and  he  got  nothing  for 
the  display  of  his  magnanimity.  This  new  proof  of 
^^the  ingratitude"  of  the  mulattoes,  appeared  to 
him,  to  exceed  all  hounds  ;  and,  two  cannon,  with 
lighted  matches_,  prevented,  thereafter,  all  access  to 
the  national  palace,  except  to  the  proved  enemies 
of  the  class  of  color.  These  afterwards  carried  mys- 
terious orders,  some  into  the  poor  quarters  of  the 
city,  and  others  into  the  country.  Was  it  designed, 
at  a  given  time,  to  masacrc  all  the  mulattoes,  and 


106  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

pillage  and  burn  their  stores  ?  This  was  the  re- 
port which  was  suddenly  circulated  ;  and  the  sim- 
ultaneousness  of  this  panic,  in  all  the  populous 
parts  of  the  whole  Island,  left  no  doubt  that  it  was 
w^ell  founded.  The  blacks  of  the  country,  fortu- 
nately, refused  to  rush  upon  Port-au-Prince,  which 
was  to  have  been,  they  say,  the  signal  of  the  mas- 
sacre ;  and  the  measures  taken,  in  the  event  of  an 
attack  by  the  troops  of  the  palace,  by  generals 
Therlonge  (mulatto),  and  Paul  Decayet  (black), 
the  one  commander  of  the  subdivision,  the  other  of 
the  post,  resulted  in  overawing  Similien. 

Only  the  minister  of  foreign  relations,  M.  Elie, 
was  at  Port-au-Prince.  On  learning  these  events, 
of  which  he  had_,  naturally,  only  received  the  most 
contradictory  reports,  Soulouque  detached  from  his 
cortege,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  M.  David 
Troy ;  who,  after  an  investigation,  signified  to 
Similien,  to  go  and  render  an  account  of  his  con- 
duct to  the  President.  As  his  only  reply,  Similien 
forbid  the  two  ministers  the  entree  of  the  govern- 
ment palace  ;  and  wrote  to  the  Cap,  that  M.  Troy 
was  the  agent  of  a  mulatto  conspiracy,  having  for 
its  object,  a  change  of  the  Presidency,  to  the  profit 
of  General  Paul,  or  General  Soufi'ran.  Indeed, 
whether  this  was  a  manoeuvre  of  Similien,  or  that 
the  menaced  class  had  really  had  some  intention, 
of  escaping  from  the  permanent  danger  imposed 
upon  it,  by  the  entourage  of  Soulouque,  these  two 
names  had  been  put  forward  at  the  height  of  the 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  lOT 

crisis,  they  did  not  well  know  on  wliich  side.  To 
Soulouqne,  this  was  the  most  clear  fact  of  the 
whole  aff\iir  ;  and,  very  tranquil  on  the  suhject  of 
General  Paul,  who  attended  him,  as  we  have  said, 
as  a  resigned  minister,  he  ordered,  hy  express, 
General  SouiTran,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the 
division  of  Port-au-Prince,  to  go  immediately  to 
the  Dominican  frontier.  He  did  not  appear  to 
take  any  notice,  at  first,  of  the  rest  of  them  ;  then, 
two  days  afterwards,  they  could  hear  Similien 
boasting,  of  having  received  dispatches,  which  ap- 
proved completely  of  his  zeal  ;  and  the  ministers, 
felicitated  themselves  upon  receiving  other  dis- 
patches, Avhich  approved  entirely  of  their  prudence. 
In  the  meantime,  the  President  himself  disclosed 
the  secret  of  the  enigma,  and  a  kind  of  regularity 
was,  finally,  established  amidst  this  disorder. 

The  stores  Avere  reopened  ;  the  administration  of 
the  different  departments  were  partially  restored  to 
their  functions  ;  MM.  Elie  and  David  Troy  issued 
circulars ;' and  the  majestic  Similien,  still  master 
of  the  fort,  and  the  palace,  drank  rum,  under  the 
protection  of  his  two  cannon,  with  a  crowd  of 
hideous  scoundrels  in  rags,  to  whom  he  constantly 
related  some  new  act  of  ''mulatto  ingratitude." 
Notwithstanding  the  tacit  truce  of  the  two  i)arties, 
three  attempts  to  burn  the  houses  of  the  mulattoes, 
testified  to  tlie  eloquence  of  Similien,  and  the  sen- 
sibility of  his  hearers. 

Soulouque  having  decided  on  returning  to  Port- 


108  SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

au-Prince,  was  preceded  by  a  proclamation,  not 
less  ambitious,  than  his  conduct.  He  deplored,  in 
this  proclamation,  the  conflict  which  had  sprung 
up,  during  his  absence,  between  the  authorities  ; 
and  threatened  with  the  '^  sword  of  the  Law  the 
wicked  j^ersons"  who  had  profited,  by  his  ab- 
sence, to  ivy  and  produce  discord  and  trouble,  in 
the  country.  Who  were  those  wicked  persons? 
In  this  position,  and  in  this  language,  must  we  not 
see  fear,  stupidity,  or  complicity?  A  piece  of  news, 
which  arrived  some  hours  before  the  return  of  the 
President,  began  to  enlighten  these  doubts.  In 
an  address  delivered  to  the  troops,  at  Saint-Marc, 
and  Gonaives,  Soulouque  had  decidedly  revealed 
his  hatred  of  the  colored  class  ;  and  uttered  sinis- 
ter language,  concerning  an  article  in  the  Feuille 
du  Commerce^  in  which,  the  abominable  designs  of 
Similien,  had  been  very  plainly  exposed.  On  that 
occasion.  His  Excellency  had  dropped  many  phrases 
in  succession,  in  pure  French,  which  was  an  indi- 
cation, with  him,  of  great  mental  excitement.  A 
decisive  experience  remained  still  to  be  made  ; 
and,  at  the  noise  of  the  salvos  of  artillery,  which 
announced  the  return  of  Soulouque,  almost  the 
whole  population  gathered,  at  the  entrances  to  the 
presidential  palace,  to  be  present,  at  the  first  in- 
terview of  the  latter  with  Similien. 

Similien  awaited  him,  in  the  principal  door  of 
the  palace,  at  the  head  of  his  stafi*.  They  were 
able  to  foresee  strange  events,  when  they  saw  the 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  109 

President  draw,  close  to  his  breast,  the  author  of 
such  sudden  ahirms — thank  him  with  effusion — 
and  enter,  arm  in  arm,  into  his  apartments. 
GeneraLs  Therlonge  and  Paul  Decayet,  and  Col. 
Dessalines,  chief  of  police  (the  natural  son  of 
the  famous  Emperor,)  all  three  of  whom,  had 
taken  divers  measures,  to  protect  the  inhabitants^ 
against  the  fury  of  Similien,  were  severely  repri- 
manded by  Soulouque.  M.  David  Troy,  on  his 
part,  having,  vainly,  exacted  from  the  President  a 
formal  disavowal  of  the  conduct  of  Similien,  for 
the  two  last  months,  resigned,  which  brought 
about  an  entire  reconstruction  of  the  cabinet. 


V. 

A  Haytien  trial  of  the  press. 

The  complicity  of  tlie  President,  in  the  recent 
attempts  of  Similien,  appeared  from  that  moment 
evident ;  and,  notwithstanding,  there  was  nothing 
of  it.  The  tergiversations  of  Soulouque,  with 
Similien  on  the  one  hand,  and  MM.  Elie  and  David 
Troy,  on  the  other,  were  very  sincere,  even  to  the 
last  day.  It  was  General  Souffran,  himself,  who 
sought  to  gain  favor  with  the  ultra- African  party. 
Of  the  two  candidates  for  the  presidency,  whose 
names  had  been  put  forward,  Souffran  was  the 
only  one  who  was  found,  at  the  time  of  the  late 
troubles,  at  Port-au-Prince  ;  and,  feeling,  that  this 
circumstance  designated  him,  very  pointedly,  to 
the  mistrust  of  Soulouque,  they  say,  he  got  out  of 
the  scrape^,  by  affecting  to  undertake  the  defence  of 
Similien.  ^^  It  was  the  little  mulattoes — it  was  this 
Courtois,"  he  would  say,  ^'  who  got  up  this  whole 
affair,  in  order  to  create  an  occasion  for  regaining 
power." 

M.  Courtois,  a  mulatto,  and  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate, was  the  author  of  that  article,  in  the  Feuille 
du  Commerce,  of  which,  w^e  have  si^oken.  The 
President  readily  believed  this  testimony,  apj)ar- 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  Ill 

entlyso  disinterested,  from  a  man,  wliom  a  notable 
portion  of  the  enlightened  class  had  adopted,  and 
who  could  not,  especially,  be  suspected  of  belong- 
ing to  the  school  of  Similien.  Hence,  the  reac- 
tion, which  operated  in  favor  of  tlie  latter,  in  the 
mind  of  Soulouque.  There  was,  moreover,  in  that 
unsettled  mind,  so  little  aptitude,  for  a  violent  and 
premeditated  resolution,  that  on  learning  the  un- 
favorable effect,  produced  by  these  new  tendencies, 
he  immediately  made  a  step  backward.  The  chief 
of  police,  Dessalines,  returned  to  favor.  A  foreign 
mission  was,  at  the  same  time,  offered  to  M.  David 
Troy,  who  contented  himself  with  responding  : 

"  I  have  given  no  one  the  right,  to  suppose,  that 
I  would  ever  consent  to  represent  abroad,  a  govern- 
ment so  disgraced." 

We  could  so  much  the  more  readily  believe,  that 
Soulouque  was  returning  to  moderate  views,  be- 
cause a  circular  of  the  18th  October  was  issued, 
enjoining,  in  severe  terms,  upon  the  agents  of  au- 
thority, to  maintain  tlie  prohibition,  imposed  on 
the  vaudoux,  and  the  Don  Pedro  ;*  but  on  the  6th 
of  November  following,  another  circular  prohibited, 
in  terms  not  less  severe,  the  same  agents  from  mo- 


*  The  dance  of  Don  Pedro^  invented  in  1TG8,  bj  a  black  magician 
of  Petit-Guave,  Spanish  in  origin,  is  tlie  vaudoux  oi  i\\Q,  fifth  power. 
Its  movements  are  more  jerking,  and  its  eflfect  On  the  spectators 
more  contagions.  The}',  many  times,  die  in  it.  In  order  to  make 
it  produce  the  greater  elTect,  the  negroes  put  in  the  rum  they  drink, 
while  dancing,  fine  gunpowder. 


112  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS  EMPIRE. 

lesting  the  good  people,  who  wished  to  amuse 
themselves  by  dancing  the  arada — the  official  eu- 
phemism of  the  vaudoux.  Indeed,  the  canaille 
vaudoux  had,  in  the  interval,  completely,  returned 
to  favor  at  the  palace  ;  and  frequented  it,  as  in  the 
happy  days  of  the  intermediary  dictatorship  of 
Similien.  A  manuscript  article,  written  by  M. 
David  Troy,  copies  of  which  were  carried  away 
with  eagerness  throughout  the  republic,  produced 
this  new  change. 

In  this  writing,  which  the  author  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  acknowledge  from  the  first  charge,  M. 
David  Troy,  developed,  and  justified  the  measures 
proposed,  by  him,  for  preventing  the  recurrence  of 
the  terrible  scenes,  excited  by  Similien.  He  as- 
serted the  desperate  resistance  of  the  President,  to 
every  kind  of  repression  ;  and  the  protection,  with 
which  he  had  covered  the  authors  of  so  many 
scandals,  and  inquietudes.  The  impossibility  of 
maintaining  the  President,  resulted  clearly  from 
these  revelations  of  M.  Troy.  The  mulattoes,  who 
feeling  themselves  sustained,  by  the  black  bour- 
geoisie, as  well  as  menaced  by  the  Similien  party _, 
passed  from  fright  to  boasting,  and  loudly  and 
freely  expressed  the  convictions  produced  by  this 
article.  But,  as  M.  Troy  had  not  failed  to  cite, 
textually,  certain  replies  of  the  future  Emperor,  the 
readers  did  not  always  preserve  their  gravity. 
Soulouque  was  attacked  on  his  two  weak  sides  : — 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  113 

liis   anxiety  about   mulatto  conspiracies,  and  liis 
terror  of  mulatto  pleasantries. 

At  this  double  shock,  all  the  dangerous  ferments, 
Similien  had  accumulated^  in  this  poor  machine, 
exploded.  The  session  had  scarcely  opened  (No- 
vember, 1847,)  when  the  President  enjoined  the 
Senate,  to  organize  itself  into  a  high  court  of  jus- 
tice, for  impeachment  ;  and  cause  Senator  Courtois 
to  be  arrested,  immediately,  who  was  guilty  of  ex- 
citing the  citizens  to  arm  themselves  against  each 
other  ;  and  of  defaming,  calumniating,  and  injur- 
ing these  same  citizens.  The  citizens,  whose  sus- 
ceptibilities Soulouque  had  espoused,  so  warmly, 
were,  as  I  have  said,  Similien  and  the  odious 
scoundrels,  who,  for  a  month,  had  imposed  upon 
the  city,  a  public  menace  of  massacre,  robbery 
and  arson. 

The  denounced  Senator  was,  only,  an  intermed- 
dler  of  small  consideration  ;  but,  his  personality 
disappeared,  before  the  important  and  vital  inter- 
ests, raised  by  the  proposed  question.  The  two 
injunctions  of  the  protector  of  Similien,  betrayed 
the  adoption  of  a  resolution,  so  much  the  more 
menacing,  because  it  had  not  even  the  excuse  of  an 
appearance  of  legality.  The  constitution  only  per- 
mitted tlie  arrest  of  a  Senator,  in  case  of  his  hcing 
taken  in  the  act  of  committing  a  criminal  offence; 
and,  by  tlie  terms  of  another  article,  the  form  of 
proceeding,  before  the  Senate,  must  be  determined  by 
a  law ;  wliich  law  had  never  yet  been  passed.     Also, 


114  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

the  presidential  message  was  met  in  tlie  Senate,  by 
a  very  active  opposition  ;  but  tliis  opposition  soon 
yielded,  before  a  formidable  military  display,  which 
was  made,  not  far  from  the  palace  of  the  Assembly ; 
whilst  the  whole  town  was  overrun,  in  every  sense, 
by  numerous  troops,  and  a  multitude  of  officers, 
and  Generals,  on  horseback.  The  report  whicli 
suddenly  spread,  of  the  approach  of  the  blacks, 
from  the  plains  ;  and  more  still,  the  second  com- 
mand of  the  President  to  the  Senate,  to  order  in- 
stantly the  required  arrest — unless  they  wished  to 
see  himself,  at  the  head  of  his  guard,  go  and  ap- 
j)rehend  M.  Courtois — finally,  overcame  all  resist- 
ance offered  by  the  Assembl}'',  which  was  growing 
more  feeble  ;  and,  at  length  it  decreed  the  double 
illegalit}^  imposed  upon  it. 

A  commission  of  five  Senators,  at  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  waited  on  the  accused,  to  inform 
him  of  the  decree,  and  to  make  him  a  prisoner. 
They  found  him  in  his  gallery,  before  the  front 
door  of  his  house,  surrounded  by  his  family,  and 
his  sash  furnished  with  pistols.  His  reply  was  a 
distinct  refusal  to  obey,  and  the  threat,  if  force  was 
employed,  to  put  fire  to  a  barrel  of  i)owder,  placed 
behind  him.  His  house  remained  surrounded,  at 
a  distance,  the  Avhole  night,  whilst  terror  reigned 
in  the  entire  neighborhood  ;  and  the  whole  town 
was  on  foot.  It  was  the  next  day  morning  only, 
that  Courtois  yielded,  to  the  urgent  solicitations  of 
his  friends,  and  a  party  of  Senators,  Avho  assured 


SOULOUQUP]   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  115 

him,  (without  probably  believing  it),  that  the 
President,  disarmed  by  his  obedience,  would  not 
push  tlie  matter  any  further  ;  he  consented  to  go 
to  ])rison,  provided,  no  agent  of  the  public  force 
accompanied  him.  On  his  entering  the  goal,  re- 
served for  ordinary  criminals,  they  loaded  him  with 
chains.  The  stores  remained  shutr,  the  whole  day  ; 
and  the  next  day,  Sunday,  the  public  criers,  pre- 
ceded with  music  and  tambours,,  interrupted  the 
silence  of  terror,  which  hovered  over  the  city,  by 
proclaiming  the  crimes  of  Courtois,  and  his  trial. 

This  proceeding,  out  of  which  there  was  about 
to  spring  a  frightful  struggle,  was  begun  two  days 
afterwards.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  among  the 
number  of  complaints,  preferred  against  the  ac- 
cused, by  the  government  commissioner,  there 
figured  this  one  :  of  having  often  risked  irritating 
France,  by  odious  diatribes  against  its  government, 
and  King  ;  and  by  infamous  accusations  against 
our  former  consul-general,  M.  Levasseur.  At  a 
time,  when  hatred  of  France  was  still  the  favorite 
theme  of  the  men  of  color,  M.  Courtois,  raised  in 
France,  an  old  officer  in  the  service  of  France,  and 
married  to  a  French  woman,  found  indeed  nothing 
better_,  to  make  himself  popular,  than  to  be  ex- 
treme in  opinions  contrary  to  those,  which  this 
triple  bond  imposed  upon  him.  The  task  of  the 
defence  was  easy,  for  besides  the  two  causes  of 
error,  and  incompetency,  mentioned  above,  the 
constitution  sanctioned  a  liberty  of  the  press  almost 


116  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

without  limit.  But  Soulouque  opposed  a  powerful 
influence  to  the  argumentation  of  the  public  min- 
ister. In  the  daily  speeches,  addressed,  at  jjarade 
hours,  to  his  guard,  during  the  continuance  of  the 
debate,  Soulouque  repeated,  with  an  implacable 
persistence,  that,  if  the  death  of  Courtois  was  de- 
nied him,  he  would  nevertheless  have  him  shot. 

This  morning  speech  of  his  Excellency  was  ap- 
plauded furiously  every  time,  by  the  scoundrels, 
who  had  chosen  their  domicile  at  the  gates,  and 
even  in  the  court  of  the  palace,  always  on  the  watch 
for  a  sign  to  interpret  against  the  mwlattoes.  Simi- 
lien  was  radiant  with  satisfaction  and  serenity  at 
this.  Fear  reached,  by  degrees,  such  a  pitch,  in 
the  city,  that  no  one  dared  to  express  a  wish  for 
the  accused,  under  the  persuasion,  tliat  this  victim 
was  necessary  to  satisfy  instincts  of  c*ruelty,  which 
had  not  been  before  suspected.  Finally,  on  the 
evening  of  the  fourth  day,  after  eight  hours  delib- 
eration, during  which  the  most  menacing  injunc- 
tions were  not  sj)ared,  the  sentence  was  rendered. 
The  Senate,  as  they  were  supposed  to  have  made  a 
complete  self-denial,  had  the  courage,  only,  to  con- 
demn M.  Courtois  to  one  month's  imprisonment, 
reserving  to  him  his  seat  as  a  Senator.  We  can 
imagine  the  fury  of  the  President,  and  the  Similien 
party,  at  this  news. 

The  guard,  and  the  troops,  remained  under  arms 
the  whole  night,  whilst  the  most  violent  resolu- 
tions were  agitated  at  the  palace.     The  more  mode- 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS   EMPIRE.  117 

rate  proposed,  to  order  the  chamber  of  Representa- 
tives to  annul  the  sentence  of  the  Senate  ;  and,  in 
case  of  their  refusal  to  obey  an  exigency  so  mon- 
strously illegal,  to  crush  out  entirely  the  legisla- 
tive power.  I  must  say  that  Soulouque  recoiled, 
at  first,  from  such  an  eventuality.  In  his  opinion, 
the  legislative  power  constituted  an  integrant  part 
of  the  governmental  furniture,  and  he  did  not  in- 
tend, to  be  more  poorly  furnished  than  his  prede- 
cessors. At  length,  day  having  dawned,  his  Ex- 
cellency resolved  upon  an  expedient,  which  in  his 
opinion,  should  reconcile  all  parties.  He  no  longer 
proposed  to  annul  the  sentence  of  the  Senate,  which 
Avas  free  to  render  what  judgment  might  seem  best_, 
but,  simply,  to  have  Courtois  rejudged  by  a  council 
of  war  ;  to  which  the  innumerable  Generals,  resid- 
ing, or  employed,  in  the  capital,  were  immediately 
convoked. 

The  ceremonious  Soulouque  received  them,  in 
the  midst  of  a  formidable  military  display,  having 
near  him,  the  inevitable  Sirailien — a  certain  Gene- 
ral Bellegarde,  (a  man  of  frightful  antecedents, 
who,  as  his  first  essay,  formerly  wished  to  as- 
sassinate President  Boyer) — and  another  wretch 
named  Belanton,  who,  in  his  moments  of  rage, 
boasted  of  his  power,  by  a  word,  to  hurl  on  the 
city  the  blacks  of  the  plains.  There  was  only 
wanting  to  this  reunion,  the  brave  General  Ther- 
longe,  commandant  of  the  arrondisscment  of  Port- 
au-Prince,  who  had  refused  to  obey  three  consecu- 


118  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

tive  summons  ;  and  was,  for  this  reason,  replaced 
soon  afterwards,  by  the  abominable  Bellegarde. 

After  violent  recriminations,  the  President,  sum- 
moning, one  by  one,  the  assembled  Generals,  pro- 
posed to  each  of  them  this  question  :  "Is  Courtois 
guilty  in  your  eyes?"  Some  of  them  wished  to 
prevaricate,  and  explain  an  opinion.  ''Answer, 
yes  or  no!''  said  Sonlouque,  instantly,  in  a  coldly 
imperative  tone,  which  had  not  before  been  known 
of  him.  No  one  dared  to  respond,  ?io.'  The  more 
fearless  only  added  to  their  affirmation  these  words  : 
"  Since  the  Senate  has  condemned  him."  The  Gen- 
erals were  dismissed,  at  ten  o'clock,  with  orders  to 
return  at  two  o'clock,  in  the  afternoon,  to  sign 
their  decision  ;  and,  whilst  this  decision  was  being 
committed  to  writing,  Sonlouque,  who  thought  of 
every  thing,  gave  orders  to  have  the  grave  cf  Cour- 
tois dug. 

The  exasperated  mulattoes  passed  the  night,  in 
preparing  their  arms,  and  making  balls,  resolved 
to  rush  upon  the  prison,  and  rescue  Courtois,  at 
the  first  attempt  made  on  his  life.  But,  the  next 
day,  a  consideration  of  prudence  was  mingled  with 
these  belligerent  preparations.  The  stores  were 
closed.  Some  articles  of  value  were  carried  from 
every  part  of  the  city,  to  the  French  consulate.  De- 
mands of  protection  and  asylum  were  constantly 
made  there,  by  those  colored  families,  which  were 
more  noted,  either  by  fortune,  or  the  political  j)osi- 
tion  of  their  heads.     They  learned,  in  fact,  that 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  119 

the  blacks  of  tlie  vast  plain,  which  stretched  to  the 
East  and  North  of  Port-au-Prince,  and  those  in- 
habiting the  neighboring  hills,  had  each  received 
ten  cartridges^  with  orders  to  rush  on  the  city  at 
the  first  cannon-shot,  which  should  be  fired  from 
the  national  fort.  Towards  three  o'clock,  the 
members  of  the  two  chambers  were  convened,  by 
their  presidents,  to  an  extraordinary  sitting,  which 
seemed  to  presage  a  decisive  resolution.  But,  in 
the  interval,  all  the  Generals  had  returned  to  the 
palace,  iii  obedience  to  the  order  received  in  the 
morning,  and  signed^  in  gloomy  silence,  their 
unanimous  affirmation  of  the  guilt  of  Courtois.  At 
this  moment^  the  tambours  beat  to  the  field,  in 
the  great  court  of  the  palace^  which  was  filled  witli 
troops  in  order  of  battle,  and  cannon  with  lighted 
matches, — when  the  crowd  of  Generals,  which 
thronged  the  grand  hall  of  reception,  separated  in 
two  lines^  to  salute  the  Consul  of  France,  M.  Max- 
imo Ray  baud,  and  accord  him  a  passage. 

Recently  arrived  in  the  country,  representing  a 
power  which  was  reduced  to  play,  near  the  Haytien 
government,  the  ungracious  "part  of  a  creditor,  and 
against  which,  so  many  inveterate  prejudices  had 
arisen, — exposed  to  the  intrigues  of  the  English 
and  German  merchants,  seven  of  whom  were  pro- 
vided with  consulates,  and,  who,  masters  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  business  negotiated  with  Hayti,  pro- 
fessed themselves  ruined  by  our  last  convention 
(the  disi)Ositions  of  which  tended,  in  fact^  to  limit 


120  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

the  regular  benefits  previously  levied  by  tlicm  on 
certain  official  wastes) — M.  Maxime  Raybaud  had 
already  ac(|uircd,  Avithout  seeking  it,  that  immense 
personal  consideration,  of  which  we  will  see  him, 
soon,  make  such  a  magnificent  use.  They  were 
especially  pleased  with  him^  for  his  attitude  dur- 
ing the  events  of  the  month  of  August. 

After  Similien  had  driven  from  the  government 
l^alace  MM.  Elie  and  David  Troy — and  the  silence 
of  tlie  President — and  the  absence  of  all  armed 
force  subject  to  tlieir  orders,  had  condemned  them 
to  an  absolute  impotence — the  English  consul, 
Mr.  Ussher,  (a  proceeding  very  familiar  to  the 
British  chancery,)  sought  out  bravely  these  gen- 
tlemen, in  order  to  hold  them  responsible,  with 
threats,  for  the  damage  which  might  result,  not 
only  to  his  own  countrymen,  but  tliose  Haytiens, 
bound  up  in  their  affairs. 

M.  Raybaud  acted  very  differently  ;  far  from 
wishing  to  add,  by  unseasonable  reclamations,  to 
an  impotence  that  the  two  ministers  were  the  first  to 
deplore,  he  silently  seconded  the  system  of  reserve, 
and  temporising,  which  tlieir  situation  inqiosed 
upon  them  ;  taking,  in  concert  with  M.  Jannin, 
commander  of  our  stationary  corvette,  the  Danaide, 
all  proper  measures  to  protect  the  Europeans  and 
Haytiens, — who,  if  occasion  required  it,  would  have 
to  shelter  themselves  under  our  flag  ;  but,  avoid- 
ing, also,  every  demonstration,  of  a  kind  that  could 
be  interpreted,  by  the  threatened  class,  as  a  sign  of 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  121 

offensive  alliance,  and  to  plunge  it  into  a  struggle, 
the  consequences  of  which  might  have  been  incal- 
culable. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  trial — and  whilst 
a  regular  jurisdiction  remained  in  possession  of  it, 
M.  Kaybaud  refused  to  mix  himself  up  with  an  af- 
fair, altogether  domestic.  Before  the  urgency  and 
gravity  of  the  circumstances,  he  forgot  his  scru- 
ples. Implored,  by  a  touching  petition  of  Madame 
Courtois  ;  solicited,  even  pressed  b}^  a  number  of 
gentlemen,  who  prayed  him  to  prevent  an  immense 
effusion  of  blood  ;  knowing,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  orders  had  been  issued  for  the  arrest  of  M. 
David  Troy, — of  deputy  Preston,  (the  richest  mer- 
chant of  Port-au-Prince) — of  the  three  defenders 
of  Courtois,  one  of  whom  was  also  a  deputy — and 
of  Senator  Latortue,  who  had  insisted  most  upon 
his  acquittal ;  learning,  besides,  that  the  grave  ivas 
alreachj  dug  ;  he  signified,  to  the  minister  of  foreign 
relations,  that  he  wished  to  be  received  by  the  Presi- 
dent. It  was  only  three  hours  afterwards  that  an 
aide-de-camp  of  the  latter,  informed  the  consul,  that 
he  was  expected. 

M.  Kaybaud,  had  previously,  proposed  to  the 
English  consul  to  unite  with  him  in  making  a  com- 
mon effort ;  but,  on  that  day,  Mr.  Ussher  was  not 
in  the  spirit  of  the  matter,  and  resigned  himself, 
to  leave  to  M.  Ray  baud  all  the  honor  of  a  proceed- 
ing, the  success  of  wliich  was  much  more  doubtful 
than  the  danger. 


122  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

The  distinguished  marks  of  consideration  which 
welcomed  M.  E-aybaudj  on  his  entrance,  were  of 
good  omen  ;  but  the  contraction  of  the  features  of 
the  President,  Avhich  appeared  five  minutes  after- 
wards, when  he  sat  down  near  him,  informed  the 
spectators,  who  were  full  of  anxiety  at  this  scene, 
that  our  consul  had  accepted  a  very  difficult  task. 

M.  Eayhaud  spoke  to  the  President  of  the  colli- 
sion which  would  necessarily  occur,  if  he  persisted 
in  executing  Senator  Courtois,  in  spite  of  the  sen- 
tence rendered  by  the  first  body  of  the  State  ;  of 
the  burning  and  pillage  of  the  city  ;  and,  finall}^, 
of  the  enormous  losses^  for  which,  foreign  com- 
merce would  have  to  demand  an  account  of  the 
Republic.  ^'  The  Senate  has  outraged  me.  .  .  If 
the  7nan  does  not  die,  ivJiat  ivill  become  of  my 
honor  V ^  Such  was  the  invariable  response  of  Sou- 
louque  ;  and  the  alteration  of  his  voice,  interrupted 
by  painful  silences,  bore  witness  to  the  violent  state 
of  his  soul.  The  conversation  continued  a  moment, 
in  a  low  voice  ;  they  could  nevertheless  understand, 
that  M.  Raybaud  insisted  on  the  danger  of  his  not 
being  able  to  stoj)  himself,  in  the  bloody  career,  into 
which  the  President  was  going  to  plunge,  and  on 
the  mortal  enmities,  he  was  about  to  accumulate 
against  himself.  This  consideration — to  judge  by 
the  increasing  contraction  of  Soulouque's  features — 
appeared  to  make  an  impression  upon  him,  different 
from  what  M.  Raybaud  wished  to  produce  ;  then 
returning,  with  that  obstinacy  peculiar  to  children 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  123 

and  blacks,  to  his  first  reply,  he  persisted,  in  ex- 
pressing himself  outraged  by  the  indulgent  vote  of 
the  Senate. 

His  eyes,  which  were  injected  with  blood,  (it  is 
the  blush  of  negroes)  were  filled  with  tears  ready 
to  fall — "No.  .  .  .  All  will  be  finished  this  even- 
ing. .  .  .  See!  every  hody  is  here  for  that!"  said 
he,  finally,  showing  him  the  group  of  Generals, 
who,  standing  some  steps  distant,  regarded  the 
two  interlocutors,  with  profound  attention.  These 
last  words  taught  the  consul  much  of  his  character 
— a  diseased  terror  of  opinion  ;  such  was  evidently 
the  fixed  and  dominant  idea  of  this  uncultivated 
pride,  to  which  clemency  was  an  avowal  of  feeble- 
ness. 

M.  Raybaud  caused  this  cord  to  vibrate  violently: 
"Very  well" — said  he,  deliberately  enough  to  be 
well  understood,  "if  this  honor,  of  which  you  speak, 
is  so  dear  to  you,  it  is  proper  that  you  should  know 
that  your  reputation  abroad  will  be  forever  disgrac- 
ed, by  the  blow  you  are  about  to  give  it  yourself. 
The  more  your  resentments  against  this  man  ap- 
pear to  you  legitimate,  the  more  the  sacrifice  of 
them  will  be  found  glorious  ;  and  I  dare  assure  you 
that  our  king,  so  clement  himself ^  will  learn  it  with 
real  satisfaction."  The  consul,  not  receiving  any 
reply,  thought  himself,  definitely  discomfited,  when 
Soulouque  said  to  him  : 

"If  the  man  is  not  put  to  death,  I  wish  him  to 
leave  the  country and  foveYer— forever !" — 


124  SOULOUQUE   AND   UIS   EMPIRE. 

lie  repeated  with  energy  ;  ^^  it  is  in  consideration  of 
the  King  f'  It  was  useless  to  insist  on  obtaining 
something  better  than  this  banishment,  which  was 
always  illegal. 

After  the  tragedy — the  comedy  !  At  the  moment 
M.  Raybaud  thanked  the  President,  for  having 
granted  him  Courtois'  life,  and  for  the  calm  which 
his  promise  would  restore  to  the  cit}^,  the  English 
consul,  attended  by  his  vice-consul,  entered  the 
hall,  precipitately.  At  the  request  of  M.  Raybaud, 
Soulouque  repeated  his  promise  before  the  new 
comer  ;  and  this  brave  Mr.  Ussher,  left  not  less 
hurriedly  to  go  on  horseback,  at  full  gallop,  for  the 
purpose  of  announcing  to  Courtois'  family,  that  he 
Avas  about  to  save  its  head.  They  knew  soon  after- 
wards the  cause  of  this  sudden  devotion  of  Mr. 
Ussher.  His  friend,  M.  Dupuy,  who,  standing  at 
a  distance,  had  been  present  at  the  interview,  be- 
lieving that  the  matter  was  taking  a  favorable  turn, 
sent  to  urge  him  to  come,  and  participate  in  a  mea- 
sure which  would  reflect  some  honor  on  the  repre- 
sentative of  France. 

The  ministers,  who,  in  this  whole  affair  had  ex- 
hibited a  pitiable  weakness,  wished  also  like  Mr. 
Ussher,  to  have  a  word  in  the  matter.  In  order  to 
color  with  a  semblance  of  legality  this  clemency,  a 
la  Pierrot,  which  consisted  in  commuting,  a  month's 
imprisonment  into  perpetual  banishment ,  they  dis- 
tributed in  profusion  through  the  stupefied  city,  a 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  125 

proclamation,  in  whicli  they  made  the  President 
say,  among  other  things : 

^•^M.  Joseph  Courtois,  having  been  pronounced 
guilty  of  an  unseasonable  article,  had  been  delivered 
up  to  the  sword  of  the  law.  The  country  awaited 
justice  for  this  blamable  and  imprudent  conduct; 
but  yielding  to  my  principles  of  humanity,  and  also 
to  the  generous  solicitations  of  the  Consuls  of  France 
and  England,  made  in  the  name  of  their  respective 
Governments,  I  have  exercised  the  right  of  pardon, 
reposed  in  me  by  the  129th  article  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. 8ince  this  act  of  clemency,  Sieur  Courtois 
has  requested  permission  to  quit  the  soil  of  the  Re- 
public ;  I  have  thought  it  best,  for  the  interest  of 
order_,  to  profit  by  this  disposition,  to  remove  from 
our  hearths  such  a  subject  of  discord." 

A  monumental  proclamation  ! — and  which  de- 
notes an  immense  progress  in  the  constitutional 
prudery  of  the  blacks  ! 


VII. 

A  negro  Solution, 

Happy  in  getting  rid  of  this  affair,  upon  such 
good  terms,  the  yellow  and  hlack  hourgeoisie  passed, 
from  rage,  to  an  excess  of  condescension.  The 
Senate,  tlie  very  first,  revicAving  the  reductions,  it 
had  made  in  the  budget,  voted,  without  calcula- 
tion, all  the  money  Soulouque  asked  for.  They 
desired — but  without  daring  to  desire  it  too  much — 
that  the  President  Avould  understand,  in  time,  the 
wrong,  his  ultra-black  entourage  had  done  him. 
The  opposers  of  public  opinion  were  reduced,  to 
the  timid  expression  of  this  wish.  Thus  the  poor 
black,  so  easy  to  confound,  had  already  reached 
such  a  degree  of  power,  that  tlie  enliglitened  class, 
whose  nerves  he  formerly  irritated,  by  his  pusil- 
lanimity and  ridiculousness,  was  ready  to  thank  him 
for  even  letting  it  live. 

These  sudden  changes  of  opinion,  the  manifest 
proof  of  his  own  force,  appeared,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  calm  the  superstitious  presentiments  of 
Soulouque.  The  policy  of  denial  lost  ground,  de- 
cidedly^ before  the  policy  of  perseverance  ;  and 
through  the  large  rent,  he  had  made  in  the  consti- 
tution, the    President   already  embraced,   with   a 


SOlTI,0U(iUE   AND   HIS   EMrriiK.  I'JY 

look  of  visible  satisfaction,  perspectives  much  more 
extended  tluin  those  hounded  hy  his  quadrennial 
power.  At  all  events,  he  wislied  to  put  liimself, 
en  regie,  witli  the  future  ;  and  one  morninf^,  the 
31st  of  December,  1847,  Soulouque  espoused  with- 
out noise  Madame  Soulouque;  who,  not  less  provi- 
dent, had  already  given  an  indirect  pledge  of  the 
perpetuity  of  the  future  dynasty.* 

All  tliis  is  a  curious  side  of  PTaytien  manners, 
and  we  will  asiain  return  to  it.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say,  that,  under  the  circumstances,  tlie  marriage 
of  S(mlouque  was  equivalent  to  a  political  mani- 
festo, and,  created  a  sensation,  in  tliis  view.  This 
will  he  understood,  if  we  remember  that  tlie  two 
mulatto  founders  of  the  Republic,  Petion  and 
Boyer,  had  successively  espoused  Mademoiselle 
Jute,  only  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme  Being  ; 
whilst  the  black  autocrats — Toussaint,  Dessalines, 
and  Christophe — were  well  and  duly  married  in 
the  church.  The  approach  of  the  fatal  month — 
the  twelfth  month — remitted  Soulouque  to  all  his 
terrors;  and  the  17th  of  Febrfiary  especially  was 
passed,  by  him,  in  inexpressible  pangs.  I  do  not 
know  wliether  the  doll  was  finally  discovered  ;  but, 
at  a  small  meeting  of  his  friends,  they  made  so 
many  conjurations,  that  on  the  1st  day  of  March, 

*  Sonloiiquc  bad,  already,  b^^  her,  a  daughter — afterwards  the 
Princess  Olive.  No  male  child  followed  her  ;  so  that,  by  the  terms 
of  the  Constitution,  the  Emperor  will  be  compelled  tp  designate  his 
successor  by  a  sealed  submission  sent  to  the  Senate, 


128  SOULOUQUK   AND    JUS    EMPIRE. 

Soulonqiie  was  found  radiant  with  healthy  joy, 
and  pride,  in  the  same  presidential  pahxce,  where 
Herard  and  Pierrot  had  fallen,  and  where  Gucrrier 
and  Riche  had  died.  The  negro  gods  had  tri- 
umphed. 

Tranquil  on  the  score  of  the  spirits  ;  knowing, 
by  recent  experience,  that  he  could  dare  to  oppose 
men  ;  and  persuaded,  in  short,  on  the  faith  of  his 
vaudoux  confidants,  (certain  remarks  of  whom,  on 
the  anniversary  had  been  complacently  echoed,) 
that  he  had  passed  this  formidable  danger  of  the 
twelfth  month,  onl}^  by  favor  of  an  evident  predes- 
tination, Soulouque,  openly  resumed,  the  favorite 
idea  of  the  black  chiefs,  and  of  the  black  party — 
an  idea,  that  President  Guerrier  had  before,  ])ut 
forth,  on  his  own  account — that  President  Pierrot 
had,  in  his  turn,  followed — and  that  Riche  was 
about  to  realize,  himself,  when  he  was  surprised  by 
death — to  wit:  Should  he  be  an  absolute  king,  like 
Christophe  ;  or  a  constitutional  Emperor  like  Des- 
salines  ?  Soulouque  did  not  comprehend  much 
difference  between  them,  which  was,  in  fact,  a 
great  proof  of  his  good  sense.  In  the  meantime, 
this  innocent  fantasy  was  complicated  with  many 
disquieting  anticipations.  News  had  arrived,  from 
Santo-Domingo,  that  President  Santana  had  had 
his  principal  minister  shot,  as  being  implicated  in 
a  Haytien  conspiracy.  But,  did  they  know  what 
struck  Soulouque  in  this  news?  It  was  not  the 
failure  of  a  conspiracy,  which  he  had  bought  up  ; 


SOULOUQUK    AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  l29 

it  was  the  vigor  displayed  by  that  cow-herd  (Jiat- 
tier) — a  term  of  contempt,  which  he  used  to  desig- 
nate the  S[)anish  cliief. 

This  idea  ibHowed  liini,  everywhere;  even,  into 
the  council  of  his  ministers  ;  where  it  often  hap- 
pened, that,  he  interrupted  the  reading  of  a  report, 
by  some  such  disturbing  question  as  this:  "Do 
you  know  that  tliat  hattier  has  some  character  ! 
He  has  had  his  prime  minister  shot  !  .  .  .  Yes, 
that  hattier  has  some  character  !"  These  i)resi- 
dential  parentlicses  ought,  frequently,  to  have 
made  the  new  ministers  quake ;  hut  Soulouque  ap- 
plied it,  at  the  time,  to  tlie  old  ones.  Apropos  of 
the  troubles  provoked  at  Cayes,  by  the  ultra-black 
l)arty — M.  David  Troy  was  arrested  at  Port-au- 
Prince,  and  cast  into  prison  with  all  his  family. 
As  to  Gen.  Celigny  Ardouin,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  colored  class,  he  had 
been,  while  hoping  something  better,  expelled  from 
tlie  r!]iaml)er  of  Representatives,  under  ])retext 
of  antipathies,  which  did  not  exist.  Soulouque 
persisted,  in  a  word,  in  the  idea,  that  they  con- 
spired against  him  ;  and  the  certainty  tliat  the 
fetiches  were  now  no  longer  in  league  with  this 
party,  gave  an  entirely  new  character,  to  the  ex- 
l)ression  of  his  perpetual  suspicions,  which  hereto- 
fore had  been  uttered  in  a  tone  of  complaint. 

'^  I  do  not  desire  to  exliibit  the  foolisli  figure 
of  President  Pierrot" — he  exclaimed  in  Creole. 
*'  Since  I  have  reached  powei",  without  intrigues,  I 


130  SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

will  burn  all — I  will  kill  all — rather  than  .... 
Aj^ropos,  do  you  know  that  that  haitier,  down 
there,  has  some  courage?" 

Never,  certainly,  had  these  suspicions  been  more 
gratuitous  ;  for  never  had  the  depression  of  the 
class,  against  which  they  were  directed  been  more 
profound,  nor  better  justified.  The  men  of  color 
had,  no  longer,  even  the  expedient  of  having 
themselves  forgotten,  by  being  lost  in  the  ranks  of 
the  black  bourgeoisie.  The  ultra-African  party 
pointed  them  out  there,  with  their  fingers.  Every 
Sunday  after  the  parade,  a  band  comj)Osed  of  blacks, 
the  most  noted  for  their  hatred  to  the  mulattoes, 
mingled  with  the  cortege,  which  reattended  Sou- 
louque,  and  at  the  entrance  to  the  palace,  the 
following  scene  was  regularly  enacted,  at  every  re- 
curring presidential  anniversary:  ^'President!" 
said  a  compeer — ''the  black  people  ask  such  and 
such  a  thing  ;" — and  one  day — "  the  black  people 
wish  that  all  the  men  of  color  should  be  excluded 
from  public  employment;" — and  another  day — 
*^  that  one  of  the  two  colors  of  tlie  Haytien  flag — the 
red — (emblem  of  the  sang-meles)  miglit  be  removed 
from  it ;" — and  so  on,  one  after  another.  And  ob- 
serve that  this  occurred  in  the  month  of  March, 
1848  :  ''  the  black  people  "  did  not  suspect,  that,  at 
the  distance  of  two  thousand  leagues,  ''the  white 
people"  imitated  them.  On  the  9th  of  April,  it 
was  feared  the  secret  of  this  sinister  comedy,  w^ould 
be  explained. 

The  speaker  of  the  band,  added  on  that  day,  to 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  131 

his  previous  demands:  the  reestablishment  of  the 
Constitution  of  1816,  which  changed  tlie  presidency 
to  a  dictatorship  for  life  ;  the  dismission  of  the 
cabinet;  and  the  substitution,  of  simple  secretaries, 
for  the  ministers.  Soulouque  adliered,  graciously, 
to  the  two  last  parts  of  this  request,  and  promised, 
as  to  tlie  Constitution  of  1810,  to  obey  the  '^de- 
mands of  the  people,  and  the  armed  forces. ' '  From 
tliis  connexity  of  unconstitutional  demands,  and 
cries  of  proscription  against  the  class  of  color,  Avas 
it  necessary  to  conclude,  that  the  policy  of  stability, 
and  the  existence  of  the  class  of  color,  had  become 
inconsistent?  Something  unusual  was  announced, 
at  the  same  time,  for  the  Sunday  following,  the 
16th  of  April.  Was  Soulouque  about  to  proclaim 
the  Empire  or  the  Kingdom  ?  This  was  almost  the 
only  question  that  was  proposed;  and,  notwitstand- 
ing,  an  inexplicable  impression  of  terror  responded 
in  more  than  one  breast.  On  tlie  day  indicated, 
the  parade  passed  off  as  usual  ;  but,  towards  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon,  three  cannon-shots  were 
fired  near  the  palace,  and  were  immediately  re- 
peated by  the  fort. 

At  this  signal  of  alarm,  so  rarely  heard — and 
which  announced,  to  the  distance  of  fifteen  leagues 
around,  that  the  country  was  in  danger — all  the 
inhabitants,  as  it  is  prescribed  in  such  case,  pre- 
cipitated themselves,  armed,  on  the  public  roads. 
The  Generals,  Senators,  Deputies,  and  superior 
functionaries,  present  in  the  capital,  went,  with 
the  exception  of  the  more  prudent,  to  the  palace  to 


132  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

ascertain  tlie  cause  of  this  signal,  and  to  receive 
orders.  Tliey  ])assed  through  the  guard  of  the 
President,  which  occupied,  with  closed  ranks,  the 
interior  court.  The  call  to  arms  heat  from  every 
direction.  Soon  after,  a  general  officer  arrived,  at 
the  consulate  of  France_,  and  returned  with  all  the 
speed  of  his  horse,  after  having  dropped  to  the 
consul  these  words  :  ''  It  is  a  scene,  entirely  in  the 
family^  which  is  transpiring.  The  President 
assures  you  that,  'whatever  may  hapj^en^  you  need 
not  he  alarmed  for  your  countrymen."  This 
general  officer  was  M.  Delva  ;  since,  the  Haytien 
Minister  at  Paris. 

A  few  minutes  had  scarcel 3^  passed,  when  a  re- 
peated fire  of  musquetry  was  heard,  from  the 
quarter  near  tlie  palace  ;  to  which,  a  great  cry  of 
anguish  and  despair  responded  from  the  whole 
city.  Horses  of  the  generals  came  from  that  direc- 
tion, flying  in  fright,  without  riders,  through  a 
population,  which  hurried  headlong,  wild  with 
terror,  towards  the  consulates — and,  even,  into  the 
houses  of  the  foreigners.  The  iron-gi-ating,  which 
enclosed,  in  a  great  square,  tlie  whole  precincts  of 
of  the  palace  and  its  appurtenances,  Avas  shut. 
Within,  and  near  the  entrance.  Deputy  Cerisier- 
Lauriston,  chief  of  the  department  of  foreign  re- 
lations, and  secretary  of  the  last  Haytien  mission 
to  Paris,  lay  gasping,  in  his  blood  ;  his  head  split 
open.  In  the  open  gallery,  facing  the  court,  the 
dying  and  the  dead  were  stretched  pell-mell ;  and 
among  the  last,  two  Grcnerals,,  one  of  which  was  a 


SOULOUQIIE  AND    IIIS   EMPIRE.  133 

black.  A  long  line  of  fugitives,  whom  the  balls 
thinned  out  every  second,  cscaladed  the  iron-railing, 
on  the  side  next  the  garden  ;  but  they  were  only 
feebly  pursued.  The  body  of  the  guard  threw 
themselves,  precipitately,  into  the  very  interior 
of  the  palace,  massacring,  on  their  way,  the 
mulattoes  wandering  in  the  corridors;  whilst  Gen. 
Celigny  Ardouin  dragged  himself,  all  covered  with 
blood,  to  the  bed-chamber  of  the  President,  who, 
hideous  with  rage,  followed  the  tottering  steps  of 
the  wounded  man,  and  overwhelming  him  with 
menaces  of  death.  The  policy  of  stability  had,  at 
length,  left  Hayti ;  Soulouque  was  about  to  find  a 
solution. 

Here  we  are,  and  will  be  for  a  long  time,  in 
blood  up  to  the  neck.  We  are  about  to  see  Sou- 
louque  heap  up,  corpse  upon  corpse,  to  make  a  step 
to  the  throne  ;  then,  having  discovered  that  the 
stride  was  too  long,  redescend  quietly  to  the  ground, 
in  order  to  gather,  and  add  to  the  pile  of  victims, 
a  few  corpses  of  the  executioners.  In  the  very 
midst  of  these  saturnalias  of  negro  barbarity,  some 
relative  guaranties  of  order,  or,  at  least,  of  security, 
will  finally  be  developed.  We  are  saved  from 
further  surprises,  in  going  along.  Without  know- 
ing it,  and  as  if  by  instinct,  this  delirious  Cafi*raria 
proceeds  to  state,  develope,  and,  what  is  more, 
resolve  questions,  which,  about  the  same  epoch, 
remained,  fortunately,  for  us,  undetermined  ;  this 
seems  to  be  the  privilege  of  jaded  and  worn-out 
civilizations. 


VIII. 

Massacres — M.  Maxime  Ila3-baiid — Negro  communism. 

At  tlie  time  of  the  black  reaction  of  1844,  tlie 
bandit  Acaan,  barefooted,  and  clothed  in  a  sort  of 
linen  gown,  and  coiffed  in  a  small  straw  hat, 
appeared  at  his  parish-church,  and  there  made  a 
public  vow,  not  to  change  his  costume  until  the 
orders  of  ^^  divine  Providence"  should  be  exe- 
cuted. Then,  turning  himself  towards  the  negro 
peasants,  assembled  at  the  sound  of  the  lamhis'^'  (a 
conch-shell,)  Acaau  explained,  that  ^'  divine  Provi- 
dence "  commanded  the  poor  people:  in  the  first 
place,  to  hunt  down  the  mulattoes  ;  and,  secondly, 
to  divide,  among  themselves  the  property  of  the 
mulattoes.  As  indelicate  as  appeared  this  require- 
ment to  the  higher  class^  the  auditory  could  not 
call  it  in  question,  since  it  had  the  sanction  of  an 
ex-garde  champetre,  strengthened  by  a  lieutenant  of 
the  gendarmes  ;  for  such  was  Acaau' s  position 
when  he  announced  himself,   ''  General-in-chief  of 


•■'•A  large  shell,  having  the  inside  shaped  like  an  alembic,  which 
the  insurgent  slaves  used  as  a  trumpet.  It  is  nearly  like  the  caracol 
of  the  half-African  peasants  of  the  campagne  de  Valence.  But  very 
recently,  if  the  caracol  resounded  in  the  huerta,  Valence  expected  to 
be  pillaged. 


SOULOUQUE  AND   IIIS  EMPIRE.  135 

the  demands  of  liis  fellow-citizens."  A  murmur 
of  disapprobation,  nevertheless,  ran  through  the 
assembly,  whilst  its  attention  Avandered  from  some 
well-clad  bhicks  to  a  few  ragged  mulattoes,  who 
were  lost  in  the  crowd.  Acaau  understood  it : — 
*'  Oh  !  those  are  negroes !''  he  replied,  pointing  out 
the  mulattoes,  in  question. 

A  black,  thirty  years  of  age,  employed  as  a 
laborer  at  a  guildive  (rum  factory)  in  t]ie  neigh- 
borliood,  then  issued  from  the  ranks,  and  said  to 
the  crowd : 

*^  Acaau  is  right,  for  the  Virgin  has  said  :  '  The 
rich  negro,  who  Jcnoius  how  to  read  and  lorUe,  is  a 
midatto;  the  poor  mulatto,  loho  neither  knows  how  to 
read,  nor  lurite,  is  a  negro!'''  He,  then,  added 
earnestly  his  appeals  to  those  of  Acaau.  This 
black  was  called  Joseph  ;  and,  from  tliat  day, 
he  was  called  hrotlier  Joseph.  Having  his  head 
bound  up,  in  a  white  handkerchief,  and  being 
clothed  in  a  white  gown  tliat  confined  his  pan- 
taloons, wliich  were  also  of  white,  he  marched 
along,  holding  a  wax-taper  in  his  hand,*  through 
the  bands  of  Acaau.  He  edified  these  bands  by 
his  neuvaines  to  the  Virgin,  and  subdued  them  by 


■^  The  day,  Toussaint  Louverture  entered  on  his  campaign,  with 
Rirraud,  he,  also,  bound  up  his  head,  in  a  white  handkerchief,  and, 
holding  a  wax-candle  in  each  hand,  he  prostrated  himself  at  the 
door  of  the  Church  of  Leogane— then  ascended  the  pulpit  to  preach 
the  extermination  of  the  mulattoes.  AVhitc  is  the  mourning  of 
nc^crocs. 


136  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

liis  well-known  favor  with  the  god  Yaudoux  ;  and 
whose  rare  opportunities  of  conscience,  he  decided 
in  the  hour  of  pillage,  by  the  binding  distinction : 
^^  The  rich  negro  ^  loho  hioivs  hoio  to  read  and  write 
is  a  midatto, — d:c." 

Negro  communism  was  established,  as  we  see, 
and  nothing  was  wanting  ;  neither  that  impartial- 
ity of  proscription,  which  understood  how  to  hold 
the  balance  even,  between  the  aristocrats  of  blood, 
and  those  of  fortune  or  of  education  ;  nor  the  mys- 
tical religiousness  of  the  grandsons  of  Babeuf ;  nor 
even  their  pacific  and  brotherly  hypocrisy,  as  wit- 
ness the  bulletin  of  Acaau,  in  which,  he  relates  his 
expedition  against  the  shop-keeping  reformists  of 
Cayes.  '^  It  was  far  from  our  thoughts  to  give  bat- 
tle," said  the  paternal  brigand  ;  ''  but  we  only  de- 
sired to  present  our  demands,  in  an  attittide,  which 
would  prove  that  we  held  to  them/'  .  .  .  What  more 
natural !  As  elsewhere,  on  the  16th  of  April,  on 
the  15th  of  May,  on  the  23d  of  June,  it  had  been 
well  understood,  tliat,  if  there  was  a  conflict,  it 
was  the  reaction  alone  which  would  seek  it.  In 
fact,  at  Cayes,  as  at  Paris,  the  incorrigible  bour- 
geoisie, whom  they  only  prayed  to  be  pleased  to  leave 
the  key  under  the  door,  received  this  request  very 
badly.  Let  Acaau  speak:  "  I  liavo  made  known, 
by  a  letter,  to  the  municipal  council,  the  cause  of 
our  taking  up  arms.  A  verbal  response,  relying 
upon  the  Holy- Week,  when  no  serious  matter  is 
allowed,  was  the  only  honor  done  us  ;  and  the  same 
day,  at  cloven    o'clock,   in    the    morning,   behold 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  137 

three  columns  marched  upon  us.  .  .  .  After 
an  hour's  comhat,  victory  smiled  upon  us.  We 
have  had  to  deplore  in  the  enemy's  ranks,  the  death 
of  ma7iy  of  our  brothers.  God  willed,  that  we 
shoukl  have  only,  one  killed,  and  three  wounded. 
I  could  have  pursued^  with  advantage,  the  van- 
quished arra}^,  and  entered  the  city  pell-mell  with 
it  ;  hut  the  sentiment  of  fraternity  restrained  our 
steps.'' 

Before  so  much  moderation,  it  would  he  certainly 
unjust  to  deny  that :  Acaau  only  desired  the  good 
of  the  mulattoes.  But  then,  fraternity  restrained 
his  steps — ^just  long  enough,  to  allow  the  frightened 
mulattoes  to  escape,,  from  their  stores  and  houses, 
and  seek  refuij;e  on  board  the  vessels  in  the  road- 
stead.  This  done — he  decided  to  direct  two  columns 
on  Cayes.  ''They  were  in  the  cit}^,  by  ten  o'clock ; 
all  having  fled  before  us,"  added  the  bulletin, 
with  modest  simplicity.  ^^The  justice  of  our  de- 
mands are  recognized,  and  property  is  respected,'' 
What  unction  !  what  self-complacency  !  and  above 
all,  what  scruples  !  The  justice  of  his  demands 
once  recognized,  Acaau  had  but  one  care  :  the  re- 
spect of  property.  There  was  only  a  change  of 
proprietors.*     If,  by  chance,  I  am  accused  of  break- 

*  Acaau  did  not  boast.  Once  installed  in  the  city,  he  had  one  or 
two  of  his  own  followers  shot,  who  were  detected  stealing.  In  his 
respect  for  the  rights  of  property,  he  had,  at  the  same  time,  an  officer 
shot,  who  was  siis])ected  of  sympathizing  with  the  ex-proprietors, 
who  had  taken  refuge  in  Jamaica;  and  who,  in  Accau's  opinion, 
were,  apparently,  no  better  than  robl)ers. 


138  SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS  EMPIRE. 

ing  these  reconciliations,  I  will  establish  for  them 
many  others.  Unfortunate  innocence  plays,  for 
example,  in  the  2:)roclamation  of  Acaau,  the  same 
jiart  that  the  working  of  man  hy  man  docs  in  certain 
other  proclamations.  ^^  The  eventuality  of  national 
education,"  that  other  chord  of  Acaau's  humani- 
tarian lyre  corresponded  manifestly  to  gratuitous 
and  obligatory  instruction  ;  and  he  demanded  again, 
in  the  name  of  the  cultivators,  who  are  the  laborers 
of  the  lower  grades  of  society,  the  reduction  of  the 
price  of  exotic  commodities,  and  the  increase  of  the 
value  of  their  products.  Tlie  negro  socialist  had 
certainly  found  the  clearest  and  most  evident 
formula  of  this  famous  problem  of  the  white  Acaaus : 
reduction  of  labor  and  augmentation  of  wages. 
We  have  hit,  ourselves,  in  going  along,  upon 
some  analogies  much  more  conclusive ;  but,  after 
these,  we  can  no  longer  cry  out  against  the 
counterfeit — if,  indeed,  the  counterfeiters  are  not 
on  this  side  of  the  x4tlantic.  Let  us  not  forget,  that 
the  publication,  and  tlie  first  working  of  Acaau's 
programme^,  dates  back  to  the  spring  of  1844. 

Negro  communism  failed,  like  white  communism, 
because  of  the  extreme  division  of  property.  The 
first  surprise  having  passed  away,  Acaau's  army 
was  reduced  to  a  handful  of  vagabonds,  which 
Guerrier  easily  brought  to  reason  ;  which  the  feeble- 
ness, or  complicity,  of  Pierrot  recalled  on  the 
scene  ;  and  wliich  Eiche  finished  by  dispersing. 
Hunted  without  cessation, — })rofoundly  discouraged 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  139 

by  tlic  reception,  his  fellow-citizens  gave  the  new 
science — Acaaii  resolved  to  abandon,  to  itself,  that 
society  which  did  not  understand  him  ;  and,  one 
fine  day,  he  departed,  by  a  pistol-shot  in  his 
mouth,  for  that  Icaria,  whence  he  will  never  re- 
turn. 

Brother  Joseph,  on  his  part,  renounced  casuistry, 
and  opened,  as  I  have  said,  a  shop  of  sorcery.  A 
little  after  the  Courtois  affair,  Soulouque,  who  had 
so  ill-used  him,  three  years  before,  had  him  secretly 
recalled;  and  the  vaudoux  priest  displayed  such 
skill,  in  the  conjurations,  preceding  the  so  much 
dreaded  anniversary  of  the  1st  of  March,  1848,  that 
his  favor  was  soon,  a  secret  to  no  one.  The  scenes  of 
murder  and  confusion,  in  the  midst  of  which,  we 
stopped  the  reader,  were  only  the  reaction  of  this 
sudden  popularity  of  brother  Joseph. 

On  seeing  their  prophet  in  favor  at  court,  the 
jnquets  (thus  were  designated  the  old  soldiers  of 
Acaau,  in  memory  of  the  sharp  stakes^  with  which_, 
they  were  originally  armed) — the  piquets  believed 
the  time  had  come,  to  revenge  themselves  fi)r  the 
wrongs  of  the  police.  Having  assembled,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cayes,  the  theatre  of  their  old  exploits, 
they  declared,  they  v\^ould  only  lay  down  their 
arms,  when  General  Dugue  Zamor,  commanding 
the  southern  department — and  who,  in  that  ca- 
pacity, had  before  hunted  tliem — should  be  dis- 
missed, as  guilty  of  treason  to  the  government. 
An  officer   of  the   palace   was  sent  to  the  spot. 


140  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

Hearing  the  cry  :  "  Vive  Soulouquc  !"  in  tlie  two 
canij)s,  he  found  the  case  ver)^  delicate,  and  era- 
ployed  the  General,  to  go  and  bring  verbal  instruc- 
tions from  tlie  President.  These  instructions  were 
confined,  to  an  order,  to  commit  him  to  prison, 
without  other  form  of  process.  The  arrest  of  M. 
David  Tro}"  w^as  connected^  with  the  same  incident. 
Keconciled  to  the  sinister  news,  which  grew  out  of 
the  Courtois  affair,  the  haste,  with  which,  Sou- 
louque  yielded  to  the  caprices  of  the  j^ifl^ets,  carried 
terror  into  the  Southern  department,  which  was 
the  principal  seat  of  the  mulatto  population.  The 
9th  of  April,  1848,  three  communes  of  the  ar- 
rondissement  d'Aquin  rose,  declaring  in  their 
turn,  through  the  organ  of  their  military  authority, 
that  they  would  not  yield,  until  General  Dugue 
Zamor  was  set  at  liberty.  It,  by  no  means, 
operated  to  overthrow  Soulouque — but  to  obtain 
from  him,  an  indirect  disclaimer  of  the  threats  of 
jDillage  and  death  of  the  men  of  color,  which  the 
bandits,  encouraged  by  their  former  success,  had 
already  proposed. 

I  do  not  know  wdiat  transpired  in  the  President's 
mind  ;  but — altliough  he  might  have  been  informed 
of  the  movement,  from  the  11th  to  the  12th — it 
was  not  till  the  15th,  that  he  issued  his  first  procla- 
mation, against  the  petitioners  (it  would  be  too 
much  to  say  rebels);  and  it  was  not  till  after  a  new 
delay  of  twenty-four  hours,  that  he  decided  to  have 
the  alarm-cannon  fired.     On  reaching  the  palace 


SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  141 

court,  the  functionaries  received  the  news,  that  the 
insurgents  were  marching  upon  Port-au-Prince. 
This  information  luid  not  the  least  foundation; 
was  it  a  pretext  prepared  by  Souh^uque  ?  Was  it 
not  rather  a  movement  of  Similien,  and  his  con- 
federates, to  overcome  the  hist  hesitation  of  the 
hatter  ? 

The  former  Minister  of  the  Interior,  M.  Celigny 
Ardouin,  reached  the  President  among  the  first. 
The  hitter  received  him  with  overwhelming  abuse; 
accused  him  of  being  the  soul  of  the  '^mulatto" 
conspiracy,  and  ordered  him  under  arrest.  In  the 
state  of  fury,  in  which  Foulouque  was,  all  explana- 
tion was  impossible,  and  tlie  General,  silently, 
gave  up  his  sword  to  Bellegarde,  whom  he  followed. 
In  leaving  the  apartments  of  Soulouque,  he  was 
assailed  by  some  subaltern  officers,  who  attempted 
to  tear  off  his  epaulettes.  In  this  brief  struggle, 
two  shots  were  fired  almost  in  succession,  at  the 
General,  but  without  hurting  him,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching,  under  a  shower  of  sabre-blows, 
the  bed  room  of  the  President,  where  we  left  him, 
covered  with  frightful  wounds,  and  exposed  to  the 
fury  of  Soulouque. 

This  was  only  the  prelude.  At  the  sound  of  this 
double  report  from  the  interior  of  the  j^alace, 
the  troops  drawn  up  near  the  entrance,  quickly 
faced  about,  and  fired  upon  the  crowd  of  Generals, 
officers,  and  civil  functionaries,  wlio  occu})ied  the 
peristyle.       The   soldiers  thought,   as  they  alter- 


142  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

wards  said,  that  an  attempt  was  being  made  on  the 
life  of  the  President.  But  how  happened  it  that, 
on  tliat  day,  contrary  to  custom,  their  arms  were 
found  loaded  ?  The  probability  of  an  ambush  is 
more  clearly  developed  still,  by  the  strange  con- 
currence with  this  fact  of  the  mysterious  orders  to 
close  the  iron  railing,  so  as  to  cut  olf  the  retreat  of 
the  fugitives.  If,  among  the  dead  and  wounded, 
which  strewed  the  peristyle,  there  had  been  found 
blacks  and  mulattoes,  it  would  have  proved  con- 
clusively one  thing :  that  Similien  had  adopted, 
witli  regard  to  the  word  mulatto,  the  definition  of 
brotlier  Joseph. 

The  body  of  the  guard,  as  I  have  said,  made  an 
irruption  into  the  palace.     After  only  a  few  mo- 
ments, either  that  he  thought  the  massacre  was 
over,  or  from  the  tumult,  drawing  nearer  and  near- 
er, of  the  steps  and  cries  of  that  human  pack  of 
hounds,  he  feared  to  see  the  door  of  his  chamber 
forced, — the  President  decided  to  show  himself  to 
the  soldiers,  whom  he  was  able  to  restrain,  only,  by 
unheard-of  efforts,  and  with  the  aid  of  some  black 
Generals.     M.  Celigny  Ardouin  owed  his  life,  for 
the  time,  to  this  abrupt  diversion.    Soulouque  was 
content  to  have  him  thrown  into  a  dungeon.  Those 
of  the  colored  Generals,  who  had  been  able  to  con- 
ceal themselves,  in  the  apartments,  were  consigned 
to  the  palace,  where  they  were  obliged  to   wait 
many  days^  in  gloomy  fear  ;  and  without  any  in- 
formation from  outside,  but  the  noise  of  the  regular 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  143 

firing,  which   announced  the  continuation   of  the 
massacres,  until  their  fate  was  decided  upon. 

Of  the  number  of  persons  who  had  succeeded  in 
escaping  through  the  garden,  there  were  General 
Dupuy,  former  minister  of  foreign  relations,  and 
General  Paul  Decayet,  the  last  commander  of  the 
place,  who  passed,  though  black,  for  being  devoted 
to  the  colored  class.  This  group  of  fugitives  left 
behind  it  a  train  of  eight  dead  bodies,  which  were 
interred,  be  it  observed,  on  the  sjiot  where  they 
fell ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  earth  freshly  turned  up, 
by  the  superstitious  excavations  of  Soulouque. 
Soulouquetook  very  little  care,  as  we  arc  convinced, 
in  concealing  the  marks  of  his  vengeance  ;  why, 
then,  this  unusual  burial  ?  Was  it  the  mysterious 
complement  of  some  vaudoux  conjuration?  And 
did  tin's  human  oblation  go  to  appease  the  wrath  of 
the  vanquislied  fetidie  ? 

Let  us  now  see  what  occurred  in  the  city.  At 
the  signal  of  alarm,  the  national  guards,  which, 
at  the  time,  had  no  colonel,  repaired  to  the  army 
staff  of  tlie  i)lace,  to  receive  orders,  and  ask  for 
cartridges.  The  mulattoes,  who,  because  they  were 
suspected,  were  more  interested  than  tlie  blacks  in 
manifesting  zeal,  arrived  first ;  and  the  vague  pre- 
sentiment of  a  common  danger  insensibly  recon- 
ciled their  groups.  Tliey  were  by  this  very  cir- 
cumstance, pointed  out  to  the  suspicions  they  feared ; 
and  tlie  commander  of  the  place,  Vil  Lubin,  said 
very  bluntly  to  them  :   ^'You  have  nothing  to  do 


144  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

here — 3^011  scoundrels  ;  go  away."  Under  tlie  cir- 
cumstances, this  exception  had  nothing  encourag- 
ing in  it.  The  mulattoes  might  have  believed  they 
were  ordered  to  disperse,  the  better  to  arrest  them, 
or  perhaps  to  massacre  them  singly  ;  and  the  scene 
of  terror,  which  began  at  that  moment,  near  the 
palace,  corroborated  these  a])prehensions.  Without 
its  being  concerted  therefore,  all  the  armed  colored 
men  found  themselves  reiinited  on  the  Place-Val- 
liere.  They  directed  their  course,  from  there,  to 
the  quay,  whence  they  might  hoj^e  to  escape,  if 
necessary  to  the  vessels,  in  the  roadstead  ;  and  ar- 
ranged themselves,  very  confusedly,  along  the  stores. 
Most  of  them  wanted  ammunition.  Dessalines, 
the  chief  of  police,  soon  came  up,  and  examined 
them,  in  detail,  and  in  silence.  They  cried:  '^Vive 
le  President  I — Vive  la  Constittction  de  1846/" 

The  second  cry  destroyed  the  effect  of  the  first  ; 
and  some  moments  afterwards  a  detachment  of  the 
guard,  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery,  under  the 
orders  of  Generals  Souffran,  Bellegardc,  and  Simi- 
lien,  issued  by  two  parallel  sti'cets  upon  the  quay. 
The  commander  of  the  Da7ia{de,  M.  Jannin, 
(whom  information,  hastily  despatched  by  M.  Ray- 
baud,  found  en  route)  arrived,  Avitli  four  launches 
armed  with  mortars,  and  swivel  guns,  and  manned 
with  all  the  disposable  force  of  the  Corvette.  At 
the  time  M.  Raybaud  concerted  with  him,  to  take 
measures  for  the  protection,  not  only  of  the  fugi- 
tives at  the  French  consulate,  hut  also  those  at  the 


SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS    EMPIRE.  145 

English  consulate,  (Mr.  Usshcr  had  asked  this,) 
the  port-commancler  presented  himself,  with  a  re- 
quest, on  the  part  of  tlie  President,  not  to  disem- 
bark tlie  French  forces  ;  giving  the  most  positive 
assurance,  that  energetic  measures  would  be  taken, 
at  once,  to  j)rotect  the  consulates,  as  well  as  the 
foreii>;ners. 

Sinrilien  summoned  the  men  of  color  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  and  disperse.  A  gun  was  fired  from 
the  ranks  of  the  latter,  we  are  assured,  by  a  young 
mulatto  of  the  Herard  party.  The  fire  soon  became 
general.  But,  at  tlie  first  discharge  of  artillery, 
the  mulattoes  disbanded,  leaving  fifteen  dead  on 
the  ground  ;  and  of  this  number,  was  M.  Laudun, 
a  former  minister.  Night,  which  comes  almost 
instantly  in  that  latitude,  permitted  most  of  the 
wounded  to  escape,  and  regain  their  houses — the 
remainder  were  despatched  on  the  spot.  Most  of 
tlie  fugitives  cast  themselves  into  the  sea  ;  a  great 
number  of  these  were  killed  by  the  black  fishermen, 
with  tlieir  oars,  or  drowned  ;  others,  found  among 
the  ropes  of  vessels  attached  to  the  shore,  were  de- 
livered up  to  the  soldiers,  and  massacred  on  touch- 
ing the  shore.  Gen.  K^oufFran  did  not  neglect  this 
opportunity  of  clearing  himself,  in  Soulouque's 
eyes,  from  all  suspicion  of  connivance  with  these 
^'small  mulattoes.''  He  displayed  more  fury  than 
Similien,  and  Bellegarde,  in  tliis  butchery  of  the 
prisoners,  and  tlie  wounded.  The  launches  of  the 
Danaide,  and  those  of  the  merchantmen,  in  the 


14G  SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS   EMPIRE. 

roadstead,  succeededj  in  gathering  out  of  the  water, 
some  fifty  fugitives.  Among  these,  were  IMM.  Fery 
and  Detre,  (former  ministers,)  and  Senator  Augusto 
Elie. 

The  French  consulate,  where  most  of  the  fugi- 
tives had  gathered,  was  filled  with  groans  the  whole 
night;  every  moment  new  fugitives  fled  there,  and 
their  wives,  motliers  and  sisters,  learned  from  them, 
what  they  had  suffered.  The  incumbrance  became 
so  great,  that  M.  Raybaud  was  obliged  to  make  an 
opening  in  the  wail,  which  gave  an  outlet  into  the 
adjoining  house.  Tlie  two  houses^  fortunately, 
formed  outside,  but  one  edifice,  and  was  thus  equal- 
ly protected  by  the  consular  flag'. 

The  17th,  at  day-break,  feeble  and  intermitting 
reports  of  musquetry  were  heard,  terrifying  the 
people  much  more,  than  the  copious  fusilade  and 
cannonade,  of  the  previous  evening.  The  execu- 
tions began  ;  they  were  ordered  by  Bellegarde. — 
The  victims  were  professors  of  the  Lyceum,  mer- 
chants, doctors,  &c.,  arrested  during  the  previous 
niglit ;  some  because  their  wounds  would  not  allow 
them  to  fly ;  otliers,  because  they  thougiit  tliey 
might  dispense  with  flight,  not  having  taken  any 
part  in  the  events  of  the  day  before.  All  died  with 
courage.  These  executions  took  place,  at  the  end 
of  the  street,  upon  which  the  English  consulate 
was  situated,  some  seven  or  eight  steps  from  its 
flag,  and  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  consul,  and 
the  fugitives  gathered  tliere. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  14 Y 

The  most  regretted  of  those  who  perished  there, 
was  Doctor  Merlet,  one  of  the  most  lionorable,  and 
best  informed  men  of  the  Reinihlic.  He  fled  wound- 
ed to  the  door  of  tlie  Swedish  consuLite,  which 
unfortunately  was  closed,  and  was  there  massa- 
cred, on  the  door-sill,  with  circumstances  of  great 
atrocity.  This  door  was  riddled  witli  balls  ;  a  do- 
mestic of  the  consul,  who  happened  to  be  behind 
it,  was  ti'aversed  with  several  shots.  Another  young 
man,  happened  to  rush  into  the  English  consulate, 
and  the  soldiers  dared  to  enter  there,  violently,  for 
the  purpose  of  seizing  him.  The  consul  then,  in 
full  uniform,  went  to  Gen.  Bellegarde  to  invoke 
the  right  of  asylum  for  his  flag.  Bellegarde  replied 
that  it  was  gone.  Mr.  Ussher,  being  very  much 
troubled,  went  to  ask  counsel  of  M.  Raybaud  ;  and 
together  they  went  to  see  the  President. 

At  the  entrance  to  tiie  palace,  unhappy  females, 
of  tlie  most  wealthy  families  in  the  city,  begged 
witli  tears  in  their  eyes,  permission  to  carry  away 
tlie  remains  of  their  fathers,  husbands,  and  sons. 
Tliey  were  cruelly  refused  ;  and  all  these  bodies 
were  hauled  away  the  next  day  in  carts,  and  cast, 
pell-mell,  into  a  trench,  near  the  entrance  to,  but 
without,  the  Cemetery.  Yet  odious  as  this  useless 
refinement  of  cruelty  appears  to  us,  it  was  much 
heiglitened  in  the  estimation  of  local  customs,  and 
in  the  oi)inion  Haytiens  attach  to  the  decorum  of 
burial.  Wliilst  nine-tenths  of  the  people  live  in 
miserable  huts, — whilst  the  cdilices    left    by  our 


148  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

colonists  have  fallen  to  ruin,  and  their  negligent 
inheritors,  philosophically,  plant  bananas  in  the 
vestibules  of  the  old  seigniorial  hotels, — the  cemete- 
ries are  covered  with  monuments^,  which  more  than 
one  European  city  might  envy.  Black  and  yellow 
families,  even  the  richest  among  them,  are  some- 
times, literally,  ruined  by  death.  There  are  many 
negr esses  who  spend  their  whole  lives,  in  prepar- 
ing, and  enriching  their  funeral  toilettes  ;  and  some 
poor  devils,  who  dwell  under  two  branches  of  a 
tree,  live  on  unwholesome  food,  and  clothe  them- 
selves with  rags  or  a  sunbeam,  are  able,  by  club- 
bing together,  to  furnish  homeric  funeral  ceremonies 
to  him  among  them,  who  precedes  the  others  to  the 
country  of  their  ancestors. 

The  guard  crowded  the  court  of  the  palace,  rest- 
ing on  their  arms,  with  their  feet  in  blood.  They 
had  lost  seventeen  of  their  number  in  the  shock  of 
the  previous  evening  ;  and  the  funeral  orations, 
uttered  in  their  honor,  were  as  disquieting,  in  their 
style,  as  their  sentiments.  The  two  consuls  were 
received  with  an  outburst  of  disapprobation.  At 
the  instant  they  crossed  the  steps,  a  captain,  step- 
ped out  from  his  company,  and  addressing  M.  Ray- 
baud,  wished  to  know  if  he  came  again  to  '"^ask 
pardons."  M.  Raybaud,  of  course,  did  not  deign 
to  reply.  On  their  arrival  in  the  hall  of  reception, 
the  President  sent  to  them  the  provisional  secre- 
tary of  state,  excusing  his  not  being  able  receive 
them  himself,  and  enquiring  the  motive  of  their 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  149 

visit.  A  laborious  conversation  was  engaged  in, 
from  a  distance,  thanks  to  the  coming  and  going 
of  four  ministers,  between  Soulouque  and  the 
consuls. 

M.  Raybaud  demanded,  energeticall}^,  the  right 
of  asylum  for  the  consular  flags.  The  President 
only  wished  to  admit  it,  in  favor  of  women  and 
children  ;  requiring  imperatively  the  return  of  the 
young  man,  who  had  sought  refuge  in  the  British 
consulate.  He  concluded  by  insisting  on  it  only, 
in  case  it  should  be  Professor  Normil  Brouard.  This 
last  point,  on  which  the  President  consented, 
finally,  to  yield,  was  that,  which  gave  place  to  the 
most  lively  discussion.  But  Bellegarde  had  anti- 
cipated all  this  ;  and,  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
two  agreeing  parties,  the  suspected  person,  in 
question,  had  been  already  shot. 

Before  leaving  the  ministers,  the  consul  told 
them,  it  was  high  time  that  this  horrible  tragedy 
had  ceased  ;  and  after  having,  again,  recommended 
the  respect  due,  not  only  to  the  consulates,  but  also 
to  the  dwellings  and  property  of  the  Europeans, 
he  forewarned  them  that,  for  fear  of  some  mistake, 
the  French  residents  were  about  to  be  authorized, 
by  him,  to  hang  at  one  of  their  windows  a  tri-color 
streamer  ;  the  President  consented  to  this,  without 
much  difficulty.  The  houses  inhabited  by  French- 
men, became  thus,  in  fact,  so  many  new  places  of 
refuge.  The  consul,  besides,  reminded  them,  that 
a  great  many  of  the  stores  belonsfin'ir  to  the  na- 


160  SOULOUQITE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

lives,  contained  French  mercliandise  unpaid  for, 
and  that  in  case  of  loss,  demands  of  indemnity 
would  necessarily  result.  The  word  indemnity 
produced  its  usual  effect,  and  the  ministers  pledged 
themselves,  with  the  most  sincere  emioressement ^  to 
watch  over  this  matter.  This  last  guarantee  was 
so  much  the  more  important,  hecause,  every  house 
in  Port-au-Prince  was  either  a  shop  or  warehouse  ; 
that  there  is  scarcely  one  of  these  shops  or  ware- 
houses where  some  of  our  manufactured  products 
are  not  sold  ;  and  that,  for  want  of  advances,  and 
especially  of  individual  credit,*  almost  all  the  mer- 
chants are  only,  in  some  sort,  depositories  of  for- 
eign merchandise,  upon  which  they  speculate.  In 
a  word,  without  departing,  in  a  single  instance, 
from  his  consular  attributes,  M.  Rayhaud  had 
found  the  means  of  covering,  with  our  flag,  the 
whole  threatened  portion  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Ussher,  who  scarcely  spoke  a  word  during 
their  interview,  retired  after  this  step,  and  shut 
himself  up  in  his  consular  ark,  not  to  appear  again 
for  a  week,  when  this  deluge  of  blood,  began  to 
recede.  Mr.  Ussher  is  a  very  honest  man,  who, 
in  private  life,  enjoys  merited  consideration,  and 
in  a  regular  situation  would  hold  his  rank  with 
much  distinction  ;  but  in  this  human  hell,  in  this 

*  Specie  is  so  rare  in  Hayti,  that  they  borrow  it  there,  at  a  rate, 
which  varies  from  20  per  cent,  per  annum,  to  one  per  cent,  a  day. 
As  to  credit,  it  does  not  exist  even  by  name.  Bills  of  exchange 
and  notes  arc  unknown  in  commercial  transactions. 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  151 

cliaos  of  unlikely  atrocities,  where  his  British  recti- 
tude was  found  wandering  astray  for  two  days, 
Mr.  Ussher,  we  must  say,  completely  lost  his 
mind. 

This  first  measure  of  our  consul  was  insufficient, 
nevertheless,  to  reassure  tlie  bourgeoisie.  The  ware- 
houses and  sho2)s,  even  those  of  tlie  blacks,  re- 
mained closed.  The  deserted  streets  were,  only, 
traversed  by  patrols  and  isolated  soldiers,  with 
pistols  or  sabres  in  their  hands,  and  a  few  Euro- 
peans, whose  white  skin  was  their  badge  of  se- 
curity. Proclamation,  after  proclamation,  was 
heard,  beginning  with  these  words:  '^Whosoever 
dc." — and  concluding,  invariably,  thus  :  ^^  Shall 
he  sliot!"  The  usual  supply  of  provisions  were 
not  brought  in  from  the  country  ;  and,  notwith- 
standing the  prospect  of  famine,  the  citizens  feared, 
much  more  than  tliey  desired,  the  arrival  of  the 
country-people.  The  lamhis  had  resounded  during 
the  day,  from  many  points  of  the  plain,  and  some 
colored  proprietors  had  been  murdered  on  their 
plantations.  Towards  four  o'clock,  in  the  even- 
ing, the  panic  appeared  so  well  founded,  that  our 
consul  had  the  cash  deposits  of  the  chancellor's 
house  removed  to  the  corvette.  The  blacks  of  the 
vicinity  began  to  flow  into  the  city,  and  a  general 
conflagration  could  be  foreseen  for  that  nijirht ; — 
but  a  flooding  rain,  which  continued,  from  sunset 
to  sunrise,  happened  to  adjourn  these  terrors. 

The  18th,  at  day-break,  the  report  of  ^fusillade 


152  .^OULOUQIIE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE. 

announced  that  Bellegarde  continued  liis  work  of 
death.  One  of  these  new  executions  took  place, 
near  the  flag  of  the  English  consul,  under  his 
eye^,  and  in  spite  of  his  remonstrances.  A  mu- 
latto, colonel  of  the  staff,  was  massacred  in  the  court 
of  the  palace  itself.  The  last  bonds  of  discipline 
were  visibly  relaxed  ;  and  we  expected,  hourly^  to 
see  the  soldiery,  deaf  to  the  voice  of  their  chiefs, 
rush  on  the  city.  An  unclean  crowd,  the  habitual 
auditory  of  Similien,  jDrovoked  them,  by  cries  and 
gestures,  through  the  railing  of  the  palace  court. 
'^It  is  the  good  God  who  gives  us  this  !"  cried 
these  strange  interpreters  of  Providence,  with  their 
frightful  naivete,  as  at  the  pillage  of  the  Cap.  The 
great  apprehension  of  the  moment,  on  the  part  of 
the  families  decimated  by  Soulouque,  was,  that 
overcome  by  the  savage  passions  he  had  let  loose, 
he  would,  finally,  be  sacrificed  himself.  Blood  for 
blood  ;  they  considered  themselves  very  happy  still, 
to  be  sheltered  under  the  axe  of  the  executioner 
from  the  poignards  of  assassins.  They  soon  learn- 
ed, that  the  President  rewarded,  very  badly,  so 
much  solicitude. 

At  the  news  of  the  dismal  evenings  of  the  capi- 
tal, the  pretended  insurrection  of  the  South  became 
real,  and  gained  ground.  A  courier  brought  the 
news ;  and  Soulouque,  taking,  according  to  his 
logical  habit,  the  effect  for  the  cause,  only  saw  in 
it  another  proof  of  the  ^'  mulatto  conspiracy  of 
Port-au-Prince,"   without  being  able  to  compre- 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE.  153 

hend — the  wretch  ! — that  if  the  mulattoes  cried 
out,  it  was  because  he  bled  them.  He  resolved  to 
go  himself,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  forces,  to 
the  scene  of  revolt;  and  declared  that  he  would 
leave  behind  him  ^^  neither  enemy,  nor  subject  of 
anxiety."  The  extermination  of  the  yellow  hour- 
geoisie,  and  i)illage  for  the  black  bourgeoisie — these 
were  therefore  the  double  perspectives,  for  the 
morrow.  M.  Raybaud,  in  his  numerous,  wander- 
ings about  the  city,  was  stopped,  before  every  door, 
by  the  black  friends  of  order_,  who  entreated  him  to 
interpose.  A  few  distinguished  personages  of  the 
country  gave  him  secret  meetings,  in  some  third 
house,  in  order  to  make  the  same  entreaty.  In- 
deed, he  alone  was  able  to  attempt  a  supreme  ef- 
fort. Terror  had  stifled  the  voice  of  the  few  honest 
persons,  who  were  yet  found  among  the  attendants 
of  Soulouque.  The  smell  of  blood,  as  we  have 
seen,  made  M.  Ussher  sick ;  and  as  to  the  consuls  of 
other  countries,  situated  as  they  were,  in  their  jiosi- 
tion  of  merchants,  depending  continually  upon  the 
local  administration,  they  did  not  enjoy  the  least 
influence. 

But  liow  could  lie  reach  the  President?  A 
happy  chance — for  the  Haytiens — served  M.  Ray- 
baud,  at  this  conjuncture.  News  of  tbe  French 
revolution  of  February  had  reached  Port-au-Prince, 
five  or  six  days  before,  and  the  consul  wrote,  that 
he  desired,  as  soon  as  possible,  an  audience  with 
the  President,  to  give  him  ojp^al  notification  of  it. 


154  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

The  pretext  was  decisive  ;  for  Soulouque,  being  a 
very  scrupulous  observer  of  propriety  with  respect 
to  foreigners,  and  especially  so,  as  to  us,  replied  to 
the  consul,  that  he  would  receive  him,  the  next 
day,  the  19th,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
They  scarcely  doubted  at  that  time,  in  France,  but 
the  revolution  of  February  was  beneficial  for  some 
purposes.  M.  Raybaud  was  received,  with  a  grand 
display  of  military  honors.  The  troops,  in  battle 
array,  presented  arms  to  him,  and  the  President, 
in  full  uniform,  surrounded  by  his  ministers,  and 
the  black  Generals  of  his  stafp,  advanced  to  meet 
him,  almost  to  the  principal  entrance  of  the  palace. 

Natually  taciturn,  especially  with  strangers, 
Soulouque  hesitated  always  in  introducing  conver- 
sation. This  day,  on  the  contrary.  His  Excellency 
took  the  initiative,  by  a  rolling  fire  of  questions, 
on  the  events  at  Paris — falling,  sometimes,  into 
strange  enough  blunders ;  but,  nevertheless,  with- 
out going  so  far  as  a  dignitary  of  the  country,  who, 
the  very  next  day,  persisted  in  taking  M.  de  La- 
martine  for  the /emme  a  Martin.  Soulouque,  evi- 
dently, sought  to  mislead  the  conversation  ;  and  a 
very  marked  constraint  was  depicted  on  his  coun- 
tenance, when  M.  Raybaud  introduced  the  real 
object  of  his  visit. 

The  struggle  was  violent  ;  full  of  irritation  at 
certain  moments  ;  and,  for  a  long  time,  indecisive. 
Soulouque  enumerated,  with  volubility,  his  real  or 
pretended  griefs  against  the  men  of  color,  and  with 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  155 

many  reiDetitions,  as  he  did  in  the  Courtois  affair, 
and  his  eyes  filled  with  tears  of  anger.    He  also  often 
stopped,  his  voice  f^iiling  him.     Then,  he  repeated 
after  every  pause,  with  the  relentless  persistence, 
with  which,  he  pursued  an  idea,  when  he  was  con- 
vinced :    "  These  gentlemen  have  proposed  to  me  a 
game— their  head  against  mine  ;  they  have  lost !    It 
is  very  mean  in  them  to  disturb  you,  and  to  take  so 
many  ways  of  paying  me.     Is  it  not  so  consul— 
that  this  is  very  mean?'^     But  M.  Kay  baud  stood 
firm  on  his  side  ;  and  asked,  with  an  equal  obsti- 
nacy,   not   only   the   immediate   cessation    of  the 
executions,  but  also  a  complete  amnesty,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  blood  already  shed.     Soulouque, 
finally,   yielded  the  first  point  ;  but  he  only  al- 
lowed, the  promise  of  an  amnesty,  to  be  extorted 
from    him,    on    condition    of  excepting   a   dozen 
names,  which  he  reserved  the  right  to  designate. 
When   the  consul  was  about  to  leave.  General 
Souffran  rushed  into  the  hall,  out  of  breath,  tell- 
ing the  President  that  the  French  ivere  taking  joart 
with  the  rebels;  that  a  launch  from  the  corvette  had 
roamed  about  the  whole  night  in  the  lagimes,  in 
order  to  gather  up  those  rebels,  who  succeeded  in 
liiding  in  the  mangroves  ;  that  we  held,  besides, 
the  collector  and  the  custom-house  under  the  fire 
of  the  mortars  on  our  launches  ;  and  that  all  the 
Haf/tiens   luere  indignant  at  it!''      The  Secretary 
of  State,    for  the  interior,  Vaval,   a  man  of  dirt 
and  blood— who,  wliilst   the  consul    pleaded  the 


156  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

cause  of  so  miicli  misery,  manifested,  frequently, 
his  imjjatience — excelled  in  this  feigned  anger. 
Soulouque's  face  Avas  horribly  contracted  ;  all  was 
lost  !  The  consul  replied,  with  mingled  surprise 
and  anger,  that  he  promised  himself  the  pleasure 
of  congratulating  our  sailors,  if  they  had  had,  in 
fact,  the  happiness  to  save  a  few  more  unfortunate 
persons  ;  that,  in  politics,  the  victor  of  to-day  is, 
often^  the  proscribed  of  to-morrow  ;  and  that  Souf- 
fran,  liimself,  ^ 'might  he  soon  in  a  j^osition  to  heg 
tJiat  a  hand  he  extended  to  him. ' '  Yaval  and  Souifran 
remained  very  subdued  at  this  remark  ;  particu- 
larly, as  these  concluding  words  of  M.  Eaybaud, 
did  not  seem  yqyj  displeasing  to  Soulouque. 

''President!"  added  M.  Raybaud,  ''of  all  the 
persons  here  present,  I  am  the  only  one,  who  is 
not  dej)endent  on  j^ou  ;  and  my  opinion  ought 
therefore  to  appear,  at  least,  the  most  disinterested. 
Most  of  tliese  gentlemen,  in  order  to  give  you,  in 
their  way,  pledges  of  devotion,  flatter,  more  and 
more,  your  resentments,  and  urge  you  to  the  most 
sanguinary  measures,  without  caring  the  least  in 
the  world, /or  the  judgment  which  ivill  he  passed  on 
your  conduct  out  of  this  Island.  I  take  with  me 
the  assurance  you  have  given,  and  go  to  dissemi- 
nate the  news  of  it  through  the  city." 

The  countenance  of  Soulouque,  finally,  relaxed  ; 
this  a2)peal  to  Euroj)ean  opinion  had  produced  its 
usual  effect.  Moreover,  because  an  incurable  mis- 
trust is  the  basis  of  his  character,  all  counsel,  even 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  15 T 

the  most  importunate,  tlie  sincerity  of  which  he 
could  not  suspect,  is  calculated  to  impress  him 
strongly.  The  President,  pressed  cordially  the 
hand  of  M.  Eayhaud,  and  concluded,  by  requesting 
him  to  withdraw  our  launches.  The  latter  promised 
that  their  withdrawal  would  take  place  imme- 
diately after  the  publication  of  the  ammesty. 

The  next  morning,  the  ammesty  was  proclaimed 
in  the  streets,  to  the  sound  of  military  music.  The 
consuhites  were  emptied  almost  completely  ;  but 
none  of  the  refugees,  on  board  the  vessels,  dared 
to  land,  before  three  or  four  days  ;  and  then,  only, 
after  a  scrupulous  examination  of  their  consciences, 
to  ascertain  if  in  the  last  ten  months,  they  had  not 
offended  against  Soulouque,  either  by  thought, 
word,  deed  or  omission.  The  latter  intended,  in 
fact,  to  limit  the  amnesty  to  Port-au-Prince,  and 
to  the  events  alone  of  Sunday.  In  order  the  bet- 
ter to  assert  his  rights,  in  this  respect,  immediately 
after  his  interview  with  M.  Raybaud,  he  gave 
orders  for  tlie  trial — that  is,  the  condemnation  to 
death — of  the  former  minister  and  senator,  David 
Troy,  and  of  many  other  notabilities,  arrested,  at 
the  same  time,  with  him. 

The  family  and  friends  of  M.  David  Troy,  im- 
plored M.  Pay  baud  to  solicit  his  pardon.  But  the 
feeble  spring  of  clemency,  which  the  French  consul 
had  twice  already  succeeded  in  putting  in  play, 
would  be  so  violently  strained,  by  suddenly  mak- 
ing a  new  effort,  that  it   might  break.     To  gain 


158  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

time,  was,  the  only  chance,  which  offered.  M. 
Kay  baud,  therefore,  called  on  the  ecclesiastical 
superior,  and  engaged  him  to  explain  to  the  Presi- 
dent, to  whom  he  had  easy  access,  that  among 
christian  and  civilized  nations,  it  is  not  customary  to 
execute  condemned  persons  during  Holy  Week  ; 
and,  especially,  on  Good  Friday,  the  day  appointed 
for  the  execution.  This  touched  again  the  tender 
cord.  His  Excellency  promiset],  ''  in  order  that  it 
might  appear,  said  he,  that  Hayti  is  a  civilized  na- 
tion, David  Troy  will  not  be  put  to  death  until 
after  Easter." 

One  of  the  proscribed  persons  on  the  excepted 
list,  the  former  minister,  M.  Fer}^,  had  been  res- 
cued by  our  sailors.  Seven  others  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  corvette  from  time  to  time.  The  four 
remaining  persons, — MM.  Preston,  a  former  presi- 
dent of  the  Chamber  of  Kepresentatives — Banse, 
Senator,  and  one  of  the  most  honorable  characters 
in  the  country — the  merchant  Margron,  well  known 
for  the  blind  hatred,  he  had  manifested  until  then 
against  the  French  name — and  finally,  Blackhurst, 
founder  and  director  of  the  posts,  in  the  Kepublic 
— all  succeeded,  under  different  disguises,  in  reach- 
ing the  French  consulate.  One  of  them  was  pur- 
sued ;  and  the  consulate^  b}^  order  of  Bellegarde, 
was  surrounded,  at  a  respectable  distance,  how- 
ever ;  but,  at  the  first  request  of  the  consul,  the 
President,  relieved  him  of  this,  at  least,  importu- 
nate attendance.     Although  the  hotel  continued  to 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  159 

be  watched,  at  niglit,  by  a  considerable  force,  the 
four  proscrits,  (thanks  to  the  devotion  of  Captain 
Galland,  of  the  ship  Triton^  from  Nantes,  who 
waited  for  them  one  night  in  the  midst  of  the 
lagunes,)  were  also  able,  at  length,  to  reach  the 
Danaide. 

The  share  of  our  marines  had  been  as  large  as  it 
was  distinguished,  in  this  mission  of  humanity, 
which  thus  inaugurated,  in  tlie  midst  of  the  An- 
tilles, our  republican  flag.  The  excellent  disposi- 
tion of  Commander  Jaunin, — the  zeal  of  his  offi- 
cers,— the  admirable  discipline  of  his  crew,  the 
devotion  with  which  he  remained,  himself,  for 
seventy-five  hours,  exposed,  on  an  infected  shore, 
to  the  ardors  of  a  devouring  sun,  and  to  tropical 
night-storms — in  a  word,  this  attitude  constantly 
imposing,  without  being  hostile, — all  had  given  to 
the  measures  of  M.  Raybaud  an  authority,  which 
it  seems  could  not  have  been  obtained,  but  in  the 
presence  of  a  station  of  many  ships  of  war. 

Nevertheless,  all  was  near  being  j^ut  again  in 
question.  During  the  day,  of  the  21st,  a  real  mili- 
tary emeute  broke  out,  in  the  palace  court.  The 
troops  of  the  guard,  silentl}^  worked  on,  they  say, 
by  Similien,  vociferated  against  the  amnesty,  and 
demanded  pillage  as  a  compensation.  The  Presi- 
dent was  no  longer  master  of  them  ;  and  the  re- 
port, that  Similien  was  about  to  be  proclaimed,  in 
his  place,  as  the  price  of  tliis  so  much  coveted  pil- 
lage, and  the  appearance  of  some  men  of  frightful 


160  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

mien,  who  began  to  circulate  through  the  streets, 
with  torches  of  resinous  wood  in  their  hands,  soon 
carried  the  panic  to  its  height.  The  Corvette  was 
anchored  in  nearer  shore,  and  our  consul  had  his 
archives,  and  flag,  carried  to  an  isolated  house, 
sheltered  from  conflagration,  and  near  the  sea. 
On  learning  this,  Soulouque,  in  great  haste,  sent 
the  commander  of  the  place,  to  inform  M.  Ray- 
baud,  that  some  measure  would  be  taken  to  reas- 
sure the  public  mind  ;  and  a  few  moments  after- 
wards^ a  proclamation  was  published,  which  au- 
thorized any  one  to  kill,  on  the  spot,  whomsoever 
might  be  taken  stealing,  or  seeking  to  burn,  any 
property. 

The  President  departed  three  days  afterwards, 
for  the  South,  leaving  the  city  under  the  guardian- 
ship (little  encouraging)  of  Bellegarde  and  Simi- 
lien.  The  first  few  days  passed,  in  mortal  fear  ; 
then,  astonishment  succeeded  fear  ;  then,  finally, 
thankfulness  was  added  to  astonishment.  A  whole 
week  had  passed  away,  without  massacres,  pil- 
lage, or  conflagration  !  Either  Similien,  dej)riv- 
ed  of  a  great  part  of  the  guard,  which  Soulouque 
had  taken  with  him^  did  not  dare  to  risk  the 
attempt, — or,  by  a  reaction  of  secret  rivalry, 
which  already  existed  between  the  old  and  the  new 
favorite,  Port-au-Prince  experienced,  just  as  Paris 
did  at  the  same  period,  the  benefits  of  order,  by 
disorder  ;  and  the  infamous  reaction  began  to  re- 
store what  was  left  of  good  sense.  Bellegarde,  who, 
eight  days  before,  was  the  terror  of  the  boui^gcoisie, 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  161 

became  its  favorite.  They  were  greatly  pleased 
with  him,  for  not  doing,  or  permitting  to  be  done, 
infinite  mischief;  and  on  the  3d  of  May,  a  warm 
address  from  persons  of  note  thanked  him  for  it. 
France  and  Europe,  alas !  were  they  not  also  reduced 
to  fondle  some  Bellegardes  ?  News  from  the  South 
was  received,  and  mingled  much  shadow  with  all 
this  rose. 

Not  content  with  being  the  heir  of  the  prophet, 
Acaau, — Soulouque  wished  to  inherit  his  army. 
Before  leaving  Port-au-Prince,  and  although  he  had 
taken  away,  with  him,  three  or  four  times  more 
force,  than  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  rebels,  he 
thought  of  appealing  to  the  piquets.  Their  osten- 
sible chiefs  were,  an  old  recluse,  named  Jean  Denis, 
one  of  the  most  ferocious  robbers  that  the  country 
of  Jeannot  and  Beassou  had  produced — and  a  cer- 
tain Pierre  Noir,  a  brigand  philosopher^  who,  after 
having  conquered  cities  and  laid  them  under  tri- 
bute, scorned  to  exchange,  for  the  highest  grades 
of  the  army,  the  modest  title  of  Captain,  which  he 
held  from  himself  alone.  In  1847,  the  commander 
of  an  English  frigate,  threatened  to  bombard  the  city 
of  Ca3^es  if  reparation  was  refused  for  an  insult 
offered  one  of  its  oflicers,  by  the  band  of  Pierre 
Noir.  He  was  put  directly  en  rapjjort  with  the  lat- 
ter, who  said  to  him  :  '^'You  wish  to  burn  down  the 
city  ? — On  which  side  will  you  begin — so  that  lean 
go  to  work  on  the  other  ?  The  businef^s  will  be 
quicker  done."     A  man,  called  Voltaire  Castor, 


162  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

condemned  to  forced  labor  for  tlieft,  under  Boyer, 
and  who  in  the  galley-prison  passed  as  Colonel  of 
Acaau's  staff,  was,  after  Pierre  Noir  and  Jean 
Denis,  the  most  important  personage  of  the  new 
allies  of  Soulouque.  In  order  to  reiinite  these, 
Pierre  ISToir  and  Jean  Denis,  made  them  rather  in- 
explicit promises  ;  but  i^t  was  comprehended  instant- 
ly. Soulouque  himself  feared  to  understand  it,  for 
his  proclamation,  on  beginning  the  campaign,  said: 
^'The  properties  are  respected — this  is  our  motto!" 
A  recommendation,  which  did  more  honor,  to  the 
perspicacity  of  His  Excellency_,  than  to  the  morali- 
ty of  his  defenders. 

Pierre  Noir  began  by  occupying  the  city  of 
Cayes^  which  was  very  peaceable  ;  let  loose  the  mal- 
efactors detained  in  the  prisons,  and  put,  in  their 
places,  the  principal  mulattoes  of  the  town. 

As  to  Jean  Denis,  he  threw  himself  on  Aquin 
and  Cavaillon,  which  were  occupied  by  the  body  of 
the  rebels,  to  the  number  of  three  or  four  hundred, 
and  23ut  these  to  flight,  at  the  first  encountre.  The 
greater  part  of  the  vanquished,  composed  of  mu- 
lattoes, who  did  not  expect  any  quarter,  took  refuge 
in  the  hills,  where  many  afterwards  i)erished.  A 
hundred  andeighty-nine  blacks  of  the  wealthy  class, 
who  had  taken  sides  with  the  mulattoes,  and  who 
laid  down  their  arms,  expecting  at  least,  that  their 
lives  would  be  spared,  in  consideration  of  their 
color,  were  garroitedj  and  in  this  condition  slain  to 
the  last  man  ;  so  that  the  following  speech  of  Acaau, 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  163 

and  his  prophet,  was  accomplished  :  '^Nigger  ricJi, 
he  mulatto,  &c."  .  .  Voltaire  Castor  poignarded 
seventy  of  these  wretches  with  his  own  hand.* 

This  precaution  of  the  piquets  was,  at  least,  use- 
less, for  the  Military  Commission,  instituted  in  the 
suspected  communes,  killed,  according  to  regula- 
tion, almost  as  fast,  and  quite  as  certainly.  At 
Miragoane,  his  first  station,  the  President  began  by 
having  his  own  aide-de-camp,  Col.  Desbrosses,  who 
was  mayor  of  that  city,  shot,  with  a  few  others. 
The  same  day,  there  were  executed,  at  Aquin,  Le- 
lievre.  General  of  Division,  two  Colonels  and  two 
Captains;  and,  at  Cavaillon,  deputy  Lamarre  and 
Col.  Suire.  Thirty  others  succeeded  in  escaping. 
General  Lelievre,  who  was  designated,  in  the  sen- 
tence, as  the  head  of  the  insurrection,  Avas  a  paraly- 
tic old  man  ;  they  had  to  prop  him  up  as  best  they 
could_,  to  shoot  him.  At  the  same  time,  there  was 
condemned,  at  Cayes,  another  old  man,  almost  an 
octogenarian.  Col.  Daublas,  (former  mayor,  and 
chief  of  the  first  commercial  house  of  that  city,) 
Senator  Edward  Hall,  and  a  dozen  superior  officers, 
only  one  of  which,  Col.  Saint-Surin,  had  taken  an 

*  A  short  time  after,  at  Aquin,  this  same  Voltaire  Castor,  armed 
with  a  iromblo7i,  (a  sort  of  swivel)  entered  a  room  where  there  were 
stowed  away  thirt3'  suspects,  and  calmly  began  to  fire  upon  them,  not 
ceasing  to  reload  and  discharge  his  weapon,  until  the  entire  com- 
pany was  shot  down.  One  of  these  unfortunate  people,  who  was 
only  wounded,  succeeded  in  escaping.  In  another  prison,  A''oltaire 
Castor,  expedited  his  work  by  sabre  cuts,  not  ceasing,  as  he  after- 
wards boasted,  to  strike,  until  his  arm  fell  from  sheer  fatigue. 


104  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

active  part  in  the  movement.  The  President  issued 
an  order,  to  have  the  executions  put  off  until  his 
arrival,  vi^hich  would  take  place  the  9th  ;  but  Dau- 
blas,  and  two  of  his  companions,  were  slain_,  the 
day  before,  by  th.G  piquets.  Soulouque,  on  arriving, 
appeared  very  much  mortified  ;  not  on  account  of 
this  butchery,  but  at  the  disobedience  of  the  piquets; 
and  to  punish  them  in  his  peculiar  manner,  he 
spared  the  lives  of  the  other  convicts.  Their  pun- 
ishment was  commuted  to  hard  labor  in  public  ; 
and  tliey  were  to  be  seen  from  the  next  day,  with 
some  forty  others,  of  like  rank,  as  companions, 
chained  together  two  and  two,  traversing  the  streets 
of  Cayes,  from  which  they  removed  the  filth  under 
the  whips  of  the  blacks.  The  victims  of  this  fright- 
ful oppression  had  never  participated,  either  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  in  the  rebellion.  It  was  on  the 
simple  denunciation  of  their  personal  enemies,  or 
their  debtors,  that  they  were  reduced  to  this  con- 
dition. 

Not  content  with  exercising  his  authority,  over 
the  band  of  Pierre  Noir,  by  refusing  to  grant  it 
fifty  heads — Soulouque  wished  to  disband  it.  He 
therefore,  addressed  the  National  Guards  (the  offi- 
cial euphemism  of  piquets,)  a  proclamation,  in 
which  he  said  :  ^^You  have  shown  yourselves  wor- 
thy of  the  country  !  Peace  being  now  established, 
return  to  your  firesides,  and  give  yourselves  up  to 
your  noble  and  useful  labors ,  and  repose  after  your 
fatigues. ' '    To  which  the  p)iquets,  replied,  that  they 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  165 

asked  notliing  better,  than  to  repose  after  tlieir 
fatigueSj  but  that  they  paid  people  when  they  were 
dismissed.  Soulouque  thought  he  would  be  able 
to  get  rid  of  them,  by  additional  thanks,  and  a  few 
gourdes  (dollars.)  ThQ iDiquets  after  pocketing  the 
gourdes  J  said  it  was  not  enough.  Soulouque  con- 
cluded, that  honor  was  dearer  to  them  than  money, 
and,  to  the  great  discontent  of  the  army,  (which 
ought,  besides,  to  sicken  over  this  chapter)  he  let 
fall  a  real  shoAver  of  grades  upon  the  bandits. 

The  African  vanity  of  the  piquets  was  taken,  at 
first,  by  this  bait,  notwithstanding  the  abuse  Pier- 
rot, and  even  Acaau,  had  made  of  it.  During  eight 
days,  nothing  could  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  Cayes 
but  plumes  ;  after  which,  the  bandits,  feeling  that 
immense  void,  left  in  the  heart  by  human  gran- 
deurs, cried  out,  and,  this  time,  in  the  tone  of  me- 
nace :  '^N'a  j)cts  noics,  non,  ia  i^vend  dans  piege  cila 
encore!''  (They  will  not  catch  us  again  in  this 
trap  !).  We  must  mention,  that  since  their  victor}^, 
at  Cavaillon,  their  number  had  considerably  in- 
creased ;  and,  as  usual,  the  piquets  of  yesterday 
exceeded,  in  their  demands,  those  of  the  day  before. 
As  their  last  demand,  they  claimed,  firstly,  for  each 
one  of  them  five  squares  (carreaux)  of  land, — not 
wild,  but  in  full  production, — to  be  taken  from  the 
property  of  the  mulattoes  ;  secondly,  a  few  houses 
in  the  city  for  their  ofiicers. 

On  learning,  that  Soulouque  allowed  these  de- 
mands to  be  discussed  in  place  of  replying  to  them 
with    cannon-ball,    the    ring-leaders    of    Port-au- 


166  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

Prince,  wlio  were  held  in  check  a  moment  by  Bel- 
legarcle,  renewed  their  ultimatum^  of  the  9th  of 
April ;  having  however,  added  to  it,  from  time  to 
time,  some  articles,  in  comparison  with  which,  the 
claims  of  the  piquets  were  only  moderate.  By  their 
new  programme, — to  the  acceptance  of  which  they 
made  conditional  the  reentrance  of  KSoulouqiie  into 
his  capital, — the  friends  of  Semilien  besides  the  dic- 
tatorship,— a  flag  of  a  single  color, — and  the  depo- 
sition of  the  last  mulatto  functionaries, — demanded: 
pillage  of  the  warehouses  of  the  mulattoes — the 
confiscation  of  all  the  houses  belonging  to  them,  ex- 
cept one  a  piece — thirty  of  their  heads — banishment 
of  a  great  number, — and  (observe)  of  these,  four 
black  generals, — among  which  the  name  of  their 
former  friend,  Bellegarde,  figured,  having  become, 
decidedly,  a  reactionist.  The  friends  of  Similien 
claimed  further,  that  the*  Government,  (that  is  to 
say  Soulouque,)  should  seize  the  monopoly  of  pro- 
ducts for  exportation,  and  that  he  should  cancel  the 
d,ebt  for  French  indemnities  (this  was,  as  we  know, 
the  equivalent  of  our  millions  to  the  emigrants) 
' 'considering/'  they  said  ''that  this  indemnity  had 
been  agreed  to  by  mulattoes,  since  banished,  or  de- 
claimed traitors  to  the  country  ;  and,  who  had  treated 
with  the  agents  of  a  hing,  ivho  no  longer  existed.'' 
Yet  if  what  transpired,  in  the  spring  of  1848,  is 
well  remembered,  and  that  the  friends  of  Similien 
were  unable  to  read^  (which  doubly  removes  the 
suspicion  of  imitation,)  it  will  be  difficult  to  deny 
the  ubiquity  of  the  social  and  democratic  cholera. 


IX. 

The  scruples  of  Soulouque — A  negro  inrproviptu. 

We  have  to  deal  no  longer  with  a  poor  irreso- 
lute negro,  whom  a  feverish  want  of  sympathy, 
from  the  enlightened  class,  kept,  unconsciously,  on 
the  side  of  harharism.  The  heaj)  of  corpses,  which 
interposed  between  that  class  and  himself,  had 
broken  the  charm.  Of  the  two  men,  which  we 
have  seen  in  Soulouque,  henceforth  there  only  re- 
mained the  savage  ;  a  savage  who  had  suddenly 
obtained  a  revelation  of  his  strength  ;  and  who — 
proud  of  imposing  the  terror,  which  only  seemed 
small  in  his  estimation — drunk  with  joy  in  feeling 
himself  free  from  the  invisible  bonds  with  which 
the  intrigues  of  men  smd  fetiches  had  fettered  him — 
convinced  of  the  legitimacy  of  his  griefs,  and  the 
predestination  of  his  vengeance — rushed,  through 
the  first  opening  which  offered,  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  his  appetites  for  hatred  and  tyranny. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  kindness  of  government, 
which  belongs  to  the  role  of  power;  and,  if,  as  it  is 
often  seen,  tlie  most  systematic  and  inveterate  pre- 
judices of  opposition  cannot  resist  this  evidence  of 
government  responsibility,  is  it  astonishing  that 
tliis  influence  captivated  an  ignorant  and  brutish 


168  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

mind,  wliicli  no  preconceived  opinion  misled,  simply 
because  it  had  no  opinions  ?  The  instincts  of  the 
savage  would,  even,  in  this  case  recoil  before  ab- 
surdity, almost  as  soon  as  the  reason  of  the  sophist. 
The  only  difference  in  favor  of  the  second,  is  that 
the  sophist  being  undeceived,  would  be  able  to 
generalize,  for  his  own  use,  each  of  the  revelations 
of  experience,  while  the  savage  would  see,  nothing, 
beyond  the  present  cause,  and  its  immediate  effect. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  seek,  any  further,  for  an  ex- 
jjlanation  of  the  abrupt  incoherencies — the  alterna- 
tions, from  perfect  good  sense,  to  ferocious  imbe- 
cility— which  the  character  of  Soulouque  is  now 
about  to  displajT-. 

The  request  of  the  piquets  had,  certainly,  nothing 
in  it,  which  could  offend  the  notions  of  natural 
right,  that  might  exist  in  the  brain  of  a  negro 
tyrant.  To  take  a  part  of  their  property  from  the 
mulattoes,  who,  in  his  opinion,  had  endeavoi'ed  to 
take  power  and  propert}^  from  him,  was,  in  the 
eyes  of  Soulouque,  almost  an  indulgence.  He, 
nevertheless,  received  this  request,  very  unfavor- 
ably. At  the  very  time,  that  some  civilized  poli- 
ticians, (who  believed  nothing  could  be  done  but  by 
conciliation,)  allowed  themselves  to  compound  with 
similar  petitions,  Soulouque,  of  himself  alone,  fore- 
saw, that  the  property  to  be  divided  being  limited, 
and  the  number  of  piquets  threatening  to  become 
unlimited  since  being  favored,  their  demands  in- 
creased  by  reason    of  the  difficulty  of  satisfying 


SOULOUQUE    AND    IIIS   EMPIRE.  169 

tliem.  Hence,  there  was  only  one  step,  in  order 
to  conclude,  that  it  was  necessary  to  avoid  all 
transactions  with  i\\Q  lyiquets  ;  and,  although  there 
was  yet  time  enougli,  to  disperse  these  national 
workshops  of  a  new  kind.  But  if,  the  instinct  of  the 
cliief  shrunk,  from  the  country  tastes  of  the  han- 
dits,  the  logic  of  tlie  savage  could  not  resign  itself, 
to  consider  as  dansi;erous — and  to  treat  as  rash — 
tliose,  who  manifested  so  much  zeal  against  his 
pretended  enemies. 

In  order  to  reconcile  all,  in  his  way,  Soulouque 
struck,  they  say,  the  difference  between  them  ; 
while  refusing  to  surrender  the  property  of  the 
mulattoes  to  the  piquets^  he  abandoned  their  pro- 
prietors to  them.  Those  pardoned  on  the  9th  of 
May — Senator  Edward  Hall  and  his  companions  in 
misfortune — were  the  first  installment  of  this  tacit 
agreement.  Soulouque  consented  that  t^ey  might 
be  massacred  the  1st  day  of  June.  This  done,  the 
2)iquets  began  to  hunt  down  the  mulattoes,  of  the 
country  ;  burned,  killed,  and  robbed,  under  the 
very  eyes  of  the  black  authorities,  who  ke})t  silent, 
or  approved  of  it. 

From  the  mulattoes,  the  band  of  Pierre  ISToir 
passed  to  Europeans  ;  and  some  Frenchmen,  them- 
selves were  maltreated,  and  extorted — not  excepting 
our  own  consular  agent,  at  Cayes,  whose  residence 
the  bandits  devastated.  At  this  news,  Soulouque, 
whose  letters  to  Bellegarde,  invariably,  terminated 
with  this  recommendation:    ^^Let  us  have  no  diffi- 


170  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

culty  luith  the  French!'' — Soulouque  was  ready  to 
sink,  with  anger  and  fright.  This  was  the  oppor- 
tunity, if  ever,  to  hreak  with  the  piquets.  At  Tor- 
heck,  Port-Salut,  CavaiUon,  I'Aanse-d'Hainaut, 
Aquin,  Saint-Louis,  and  other  theatres  of  their  ex- 
actions and  atrocities,  the  people  wanted  hut  a 
mute  sign,  from  the  President,  to  get  rid  of  this 
handful  of  wretches.  At  Jacmel  the  black  garri- 
son, and  the  mulatto  bourgeoisie,  had  even  taken 
the  initiative  of  resistance.  A  band,  which  at- 
tempted to  penetrate  this  city,  by  violence,  was, 
vigorously,  repelled,  leaving  behind  some  forty  of 
their  number  prisoners  ;  and  there  was  no  doubt, 
but  that  the  President  would  permit  an  example 
to  be  made  of  them.  But  Soulouque  reflected,  in 
the  meantime,  that  if  the  piquets  happened  to  give 
him  new  embarrassments,  with  respect  to  foreigners, 
they  had  given  new  proofs  of  their  zeal,  with  re- 
gard to  the  mulatto  conspirators ;  and,  seeing,  that 
it  would  be  inconsistent,  to  confound  reward  and 
punishment  upon  the  same  heads,  His  Excellency 
gave,  simultaneously,  tlie  order  to  make  reparation 
to  the  foreigners,  by  indemnifying  their  losses, 
and  to  give  the  piquets  satisfaction,  by  throwing 
into  prison  the  most  respectable  colored  inhabitants 
of  Jacmel,  of  whose  services,  the  black  authorities 
were,  besides,  deprived.  We  foresee  the  rest ; 
t\\Q  piquets  continued  to  maltreat  the  foreigners,  to 
the  great  anger  of  Soulouque,  who  was  over- 
whelmed, anew,  in  reparations  and  excuses,   but 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  1^1 

whom,  they  were  sure  of  disarming,  by  fresh 
violence  against  the  "  mulatto  conspirators.'^ 

This  negro  version,  of  what  is  called,  the  see- 
saw policy,  Soulouque  applied  to  every  thing.  So 
far  from  opposing  any  obstacles,  to  the  emigration 
of  the  yellow  class,  the  authorities  seemed,  at  first, 
to  view  it  with  a  favorable  eye.  But  the  greater 
part  of  the  emigrants,  as  I  have  said,  being  re- 
tailers, whose  flight  would  prejudice  the  foreign 
consignees,  these  complained  loudly  of  it.*  Sou- 
louque  was  so  much  the  more  aifected,  by  this  de- 
mand, because  the  most  certain  part  of.  his  reve- 
nues, (it  will  be  henceforth  folly  to  say  the  revenues 
of  the  government,)  accrued,  from  duties  on  im- 
portations and  exportations  ;  that  is  to  say,  from 
bartering  with  foreign  countries.  Emigration  was, 
therefore,  rigorously  prohibited  ;  a  decree  de- 
nounced the  emigrants,  with  civil  death,  and  per- 
petual banishment.  This  very  severity  was  of  good 
omen  ;  as  it  seemed  to  indicate,  that  the  thought 
of  reviving  commerce,  animated  Soulouque  ;  and, 
as  a  consequence,  the  termination  of  this  system  of 
terror,  which  depopulated  the  shops,  and  filled  up 
the  cemeteries  and  prisons. 

Unfortunately,  Soulouque  reasoned  thus — that 
emigration  being  prohibited,  the  mulattoes  would 


*  Wc  are  ready  to  prove  that  none  of  our  countrymen  took  part 
in  this  demand.  Loss  for  loss — they  preferred  to  see  their  debtors 
escape,  than  be  killed. 


172  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

remain  in  the  country  ;  that  by  remaining  in  the 
country,  they  would  only  be  the  more  able  to  con- 
spire ;  and  this  increase  of  danger  could  only  be 
counterbalanced  by  additional  precautions.  As 
the  first  increase  of  precautions,  he  gave  orders  to 
have  all  the  able-bodied  mulattoes  of  Port-au- 
Prince  enrolled,  in  order  to  watch  over  them 
more  easily ;  and  this  press  of  mulattoes  con- 
demned, a  great  number  of  shops,  to  inactivity, 
which  neither  emigration,  nor  the  executioner  had 
yet  made  vacant.*  As  a  second  increase  of  pre- 
cautions, (and  it  was  well  that  the  trifling  insurrec- 
tion of  the  South  had  ceased  for  want  of  insur- 
gents,) Soulouque  redoubled  his  fury  against  the 
mulattoes  of  that  part  of  the  Island.  It  is  easy  to 
understand,  how  it  was  that  commerce  was  not 
benefitted  by  all  this.  A  few  men  of  color,  who 
by  this  triple  scourge,  of  forced  enrollment,  the 
piquets,  and  the  military  commissions,  had  not  yet 
been  driven  from  their  warehouses,  were  compelled 
to  seek,  a  last  chance  of  safety,  in  clandestine  emi- 
gration. And  emigration  was  not  limited  to  men  ; 
the  vessels  which  coasted  along  this  accursed  coun- 
try, already  deserted  by  almost  every  fiag,  encoun- 
tered every  day  at  sea,  miserable  launches,  filled 
with  women  and  children,  endeavoring  to  reach  Ja- 
maica.    Incensed,  at  so  much  unwillingness,  Sou- 

'.    *  Many  public  administrations  were  even  compelled,  to  suspend 
their  functions,  for  the  want  of  persons  able  to  write. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS    EMPIRE.  173 

loiique   was    transported,    with    additional    fury, 
against  the  mulattoes,  who  were  so  much  the  less 
excusahle  in  his  eyes,  because  he  never  ceased  to 
proclaim,  his  reliance  upon  them,  in  the  orders  of 
the  da}^ — like  the  following  : 

^'  Haytiens  !  a  new  era  has  arisen  for  the  Repub- 
lic !  The  country  having  throAvn  off  the  shackles 
of  all  the  heterogerieous  elements  luhich  obstructed  its 
progressive  march,  has  become  prosperous.  The 
greater  part  of  the  traitors  have  sought  refuge  on 
foreign  soil.  .  .  .  Citizens  of  Cayes  !  I  will  soon 
leave  your  city,  to  explore  the  rest  of  the  Southern 
department.  My  stay  here  lias  restored  calm  to 
the  public  mind  ;  and  I  am  happy  to  say,  that  this 
calm  and  security  have  been  noticed  in,  all  parts 
of  the  Republic.   .   .   .  etc.,  etc." 

In  fact,  he  left  Cayes  the  2d  of  July  for  Jeremie, 
a  city  which  liad  been  very  tranquil  for  many  years, 
and  vainly  flattered  itself  to  escape  this  terrible  visi- 
tation .  Besides  a  portion  of  his  guards ,  and  three  or 
four  regiments  of  the  line,  he  carried  with  him  a 
band  of  piquets,  who  scattered  along  the  whole  route, 
robbery  and  assassination  ; — some  thirty  Generals, 
that,  through  mistrust  of  their  disposition  towards 
him,  he  held  under  his  hand  ; — a  military  commis- 
sion to  whom  he  delivered,  from  time  to  time,  one 
of  these  Generals  ; — and  a  cloud  of  informers  in 
rags,  who,  at  every  halt  of  the  President,  played 
the  part  of  people  in  scenes  like  those,  a  recital  of 
8 


174  SOULOUQUE  AND   IIIS  EMPIRE. 

which  we  have  borrowed  from  an  order  of  the  day, 
of  the  16th  July  : 

''Haytiens!  the  population  of  Jeremie,  which 
awaits   the   arrival  of  the    Government   chief,  in 
order  to  make   known   to   him   their    griefs   and 
wishes,  assembled  in  that  city,  the  13th  of  this 
month.     Orally   and  hy   ])etition    they    have   de- 
nounced   as    traitors    to    the    country — "      (Here 
follow    the   names  of  fiftij-seven  of  the  principal 
citizens  ;    they   were   functionaries,    whose  places 
the  staff  of  \\i^ ]jiqnets  coveted,  or  merchants  who, 
to  their  misfortune,  had    had    dealings  with   the 
friends  of  the  piquets.     In  his  diseased  predisposi- 
tion to  believe  in  the  sincerity,  and  devotion,  of  all 
those  who  flattered  his  susjDicions,  Soulouque  con- 
sidered  nothing   further).       '"' Haytiens  " — added 
this  head  of  the  Government,  in  an   impulse  of 
paternal    solicitude — ^^Haytiens,    the   citizens    of 
Jeremie,  who,  like  those  of  every  other  part  of  the 
Kepublic,  aspire  to  that  peace  ivhich  leads  to  liap)- 
piness,  demand  justice  of  these  accused   persons, 
whom  they  declare  to  be  the  only  obstacles  to  j)ub- 
lic   tranquility,  in  the  Grande-Anse.      You  want 
peace — you  shall  have  it.     I  promise  it  to  you  ;  I 
swear  it  by  this    sword,  with   which,    you   have 
armed  me  in  defence  of  your  honor,  and  the  glory 
of  Hayti.     This  sword  shall  never  be  returned  to 
the  scabbard,  as  long  as  there  shall  be  left  one  of 
these  perjurers  to  strike,  who  conspire  the  ruin  of 


SOTJLOUQITE    AND    IILS    KMI'IRM.  1Y5 

the  country."    In  fact,  they  arrested  the  perjurers, 
in  question,  tried,  and  executed  them. 

One  might  he  surprised,  that  liaving  the  piquets 
under  his  hand,  Soulouque  shouhl  have  sacrificed, 
to  prejudice,  judicial  proceedings.  This  is  to  he 
very  ignorant  of  the  individual.  The  hiw  gave 
liim  military  commissions,  and  lie  would  have 
thought  liimself,  deprived  of  one  of  his  preroga- 
tives, if  they  had  demanded  that  he  shoukl  yiekl 
them.  It  was,  hesides,  a  means  of  testing  the  sus- 
pected officers  of  his  suite,  to  require  them  to  sit,  in 
these  commissions,  when,  hy  chance,  the  accused 
person,  might  he  one  of  their  friends.  The  sentence 
was  distingnislied  in  such  cases,  hy  its  sad  brevity. 
The  commissioners,  being  forced  accomplices  of  as- 
sassination, wished,  at  least,  to  divide  among  them- 
selves the  sarcasm  of  a  judicial  parody.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  military  commissions^  which  were  filled 
up  from  the  ultra-hlack  party,  heightened  by  the 
luxury  of  forms  their  constitutional  impudence. 
We  have  under  our  eyes  many  pi^oces-verbaux,  of 
these  commissions.  We  read  in  them,  almost  con- 
stantly this  phrase  :  "  The  informer  has  set  forth 
the  accusation,  hut  has  produced  no  evidence.'' 
And  this  other:  ''The  President  has  enjoined, 
upon  the  advocates,  that  they  must  say  nothing 
against  their  consciences,  nor  contrary  to  the  re- 
spect due  to  the  laws,  but  they  should  express 
themselves,   with  decency,  and  moderation  ;  and, 


17G  .SOIILOUQUK   AND    UTS    EMPIRE. 

that  every  otYender  shall  he  condemned  to  a  2^i(n'isJi- 
ment,  ivhich  luill  he  defined  hy  the  law.'' 

The  advocates  understood  this,  at  a  glance ;  and, 
in  order  not  to  he  exposed  to  the  retroactive  effect 
of  the  future  law,  with  which,  they  were  threat- 
ened, they  sang  with  stifled  voices,  and  in  guise  of 
pleading,  the  praises  of  the  Government  chief. 
This  formality  through  with,  the  accuser  persisted 
in  supporting  his  accusation,  continuing,  of  course, 
not  to  produce  any  evidence  of  the  charge.  The 
vote  was  taken  ;  and  the  council,  having  seen  the 
articles,  d:c.,  invariahly  condemned  the  said  ac- 
cused to  the  punishment  of  death,  inasmuch  as  the 
pmhlic  order  had  been  compromised.  It  was  in  like 
manner^  for  example,  that  Senator  Edward  Hall 
was  tried  and  condemned. 

There  was  another  feature,  not  less  characteristic. 
The  text,  cited  to  sustain  the  conviction  of  this  Sen- 
ator— who  was  not  a  military  officer,  and  had  heen 
put  on  his  trial  only  under  the  pretext  of  conspira- 
cy— was  the  25th  article  of  the  military  code,  which 
applied,  not  to  conspirators,  hut  to  soldiers,  or  per- 
sons attached  to  the  army,  who  should  have  exposed 
any  Haytiens  to  the  effect  of  reprisals,  either  hy 
committing  acts  not  approved  hy  the  government, 
or  in  acting  contrary  to  its  instructions.  Some  text 
was  necessary  for  these  terrible  boobies,  and  this 
had,  at  least,  the  merit  of  originality  and  surprise. 

Again,  among  others,,  in  the  trial  of  the  venera- 
ble Danblas,  the  President,  in  order  to  spare  the 


SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  ItY 

scruples  of  his  colleagues,  altered,  of  liis  own  au- 
thority, the  decisive  question — to  wit :  '^Is  it  cer- 
tain that  the  accused,  etc?" — and  said:  ^'Is  it 
certain,  or  is  it  prohahle^  etc?"  Then,  in  default 
of  any  evidence  to  the  charge,  the  sentence  was 
based  on  some  j^^ohahilities,  as  thua:  '^seeing  the 
j)Osition  of  things,  and  considering  to  what  extremi- 
ties men  are  carried,  who  are  always  seeking  to 
annoy,  and  interrupt,  tlie  progress  of  government, 
by  constantly  intriguing  to  i)roduce  a  cha7ige  of  the 
Executive  every  year,  (an  allusion  to  the  fetiche 
hidden  in  the  ])alace  garden)  which  is  very  prejudi- 
cial to  the  countr}^ — and^  finally,  considering  that 
these  Messieurs,  enemies  of  their  country,  have 
proved  their  designs,  hy  that  lyistol-shot  which  Celig- 
ny  fired  at  the  President  personally ,  (vaudoux  version 
of  the  two  pistol  shots  fired  in  the  jDresidential 
palace  at  General  Celign}^  Ardouin) — by  these  facts, 
the  council.  .  .  {passing  hy  the  conclusions  of 
the  public  minister  who  had  ap})arently  abandoned 
the  accusation) — condemn  the  aforesaid  accused 
(Daublas)  to  the  punishment  of  .    .     .  death." 

This  frightful  tribute  of  blood  liad  been  almost 
exclusively,  at  first,  levied  on  the  colored  bourgeoisie: 
senators,  deputies,  generals,  and  superior  ofiicers, 
magistrates,  merchants,  and  great  projirietors,  paid 
their  contingent  with  resignation  ;  when  a  black 
General  of  Division,  named  Telemaque,  who  com- 
manded tlie  arrondisscmcnt  of  Cayes  was  put,  in  his 


178  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

turn,  upon  trial  in  company  wifh  all  tlie  superior 
officers  of  his  staff. 

Not  finding  a  shadow  of  guilt  to  their  charge,, 
and  believing  they  could  swerve  in  favor  of  the  ac- 
cused blacks,  from  the  office  of  executioners,  which 
was  imposed  upon  them,  in  regard  to  the  mulattoes, 
the  military  commission  dared  to  acquit  tlie  pri- 
soners. Soulouque  instantly  gave  orders  to  have 
them  rejudged,  and  to  make  an  e7id  of  it  this  time — 
they  obeyed  ;  the  General  and  his  staff  were  mas- 
sacred with  great  parade,  on  the  principal  square 
of  the  city.  A  short  time  afterwards,  another  black 
Greneral,  named  Brice,  was  arrested  on  the  Domi- 
nican frontier,  and  conducted,  with  a  part  of  his 
staff,  to  the  prison  at  Port-au-Prince,  from  which 
he  was  only  released  on  becoming  a  maniac.  The 
execution  of  David  Troy,  whom  they  thought  had 
been  forgotten  in  this  prison  until  the  return  of  the 
President,  again  sealed  the  bloody  brotherhood 
which  the  latter  renev/ed  between  the  two  colors. 

Yet,  though  no  suspected  murmur  arose  from 
that  vast  solitude — lialf  desert,  half  cemetery,  which 
he  had  created  in  the  peninsula  (terror  restricted 
itself  to  lamentations) — Soulouque  suspected  that 
order  was  scarcely  reestablished,  and  he  returned 
to  Port-au-Prince  on  the  15th  of  August.  On  en- 
tering the  city,  he  and  his  troops  passed  through  a 
succession  of  triumphal  arches,  ornamented  with 
enthusiastic  legends,  upon  which  His  Excellency 
deigned  in  ])assi ng,  to  cast  the  occasional  look  of 


SOULOUQUE   AND   UIS   EMPIRE.  170 

a  connoiseur,  saying  :  ^^tliis  is  very  pretty."  The 
report  spread,  that  tlie  President  had  learned  to 
read,*  and  the  noisy  delight  of  the  ^'black  people" 
was  thereb}'  increased.  It  was  no  longer  tlie  good 
will,  which  should  exist  between  vaudoux  coreli- 
gionists— it  was  a  mixture  of  curious  veneration, 
and  pride,  which  urged  that  eagerly  obedient  crowd 
to  welcome  the  transfigured  Soulouque  ;  respect  for 
whom,  was  fear^  and  whose  only  sceptre  was  an  axe. 

Some  scene  of  massacre  was,  at  first,  feared  ;  and 
many  colored  families,  solicited  an  asylum  in  the 
consulates  ;  but  yielding  to  the  new  impressions, 
which  existed  all  about  them,  the  two  or  three  hun- 
dred scoundrels,  avIio,  for  the  last  two  months,  had 
boasted,  that  Soulouque  should  not  return  to  the 
city,  but  upon  coi'taiu  conditions,  now  dissimulated 
as  much  as  possible.  The  city  was  illuminated  for 
three  evenings  ;  and  the  houses  of  the  mulattoes — 
houses  which  proscription  or  murder  had  visited 
— were  distinguished  above  all  the  others,  for  the 
garlands  of  palms,  and  wreaths  of  leaves,  which 
gave  them  an  additional  decoration. 

From  the  marked  coolness,  which  he  exhibited 
to  Similien,  it  was  easy  to  believe  that  the  Presi- 
dent,   himself,    had   returned   to   more   peaceable 


*  Soulouque,  in  fact,  exercised  himself,  secretly,  in  reading;  and 
we  are  assured  that  printed  letters  were  already  without  mystery  to 
His  Tmiicricil  Majesty.  Soulouque  did  not  make  less  progress  in 
writing. 


180  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS    EMPIRE. 

opinions  ;  but  this  delusion  did  not  long  continue. 
Among  tlie  innumerable  suspects,  who,  not  being 
able  to  fly  from  this  land  of  sorrow,  filled  the  pri- 
son at  Port-au-Prince,  three  were  under  sentence 
of  death  ;  these  were  Gen.  Desmaret,  who  had  a 
command  on  the  Dominican  frontier — a  colonel, 
and  a  magistrate.  Some  persons  dared  to  hazard 
an  application  to  the  President,  to  spare  their  lives, 
at  least ;  they  only  succeeded,  in  putting  him  in  a 
state  of  frightful  nervous  excitement.  M.  Ray- 
baud  was  entreated  to  attempt  a  last  effort  to  save 
them. 

Soulouque  received  the  consul-general,  with  his 
usual  warmth  and  courtesy ;  but,  not  without  the 
constrained  smile,  he  had  prepared  for  the  occasion, 
becoming  fixed  on  his  lips,  which  were  agitated 
by  an  involuntary  trembling.  For  the  first  time,  in 
three  months — during  which,  he  mowed  down  yel- 
low and  black,  Avithout  creating  about  him,  any 
other  murmurs  than  those  of  the  falling  bodies, — 
he  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  man,  who 
dared  to  think  and  say,  tliat  Christian  blood  ought 
not  to  be  shed  like  water.  From  the  first  moment 
of  that  long  interview,  Soulouque  raved  with 
anger. 

M.  Eaybaud  waited,  until  this  torrent  had  passed 
by,  when  he  set  before  him  the  numerous  reasons, 
which  the  interests  of  the  country,  and  those  of  the 
President  himself,  could  suggest.  Soulouque,  ap- 
parently overcome  by  lassitude,  renewed,  with  a 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  181 

sort  of  calm,  liis  favorite  argument :  ''that  the  mii- 
lattoes  having  proposed  to  him  a  game,  and  having 
lost,  'it  was  very  mean  in  them  to  disturb  the  con- 
sul, instead  of  paying  gracefully."'  But,  by  de- 
grees, expression  following,  with  difficulty,  the 
swelling  flood  of  thoughts,  wliicli  pressed  in  tumult 
through  his  head,  incaherent  words  succeeded  to 
phrases,  and  monosyllables  to  words.  At  the  end 
of  an  hour,  the  consul  was  less  advanced  than  on 
entering.  At  length,  Soulouque  said:  ^' If  my 
mother  sJiould  issue  from  the  grave,  and  fall  at  my 
feet,  her  prayers  ivoidd  not  save  them !"  After  tliis 
oath  "by  my  godmother" — (the  most  terrible 
oatli  til  at  a  Haytien  negro  can  make) — M.  Kaybaud 
replied — "Grant  me,  at  least,  one  of  them."  "The 
half  of  one  if  you  wish,"  replied  Soulouque  ;  and, 
tliis  time  he  managed  to  smile. 

The  savage  had  conquered  ;  and  he  celebrated 
his  triumph,  in  savage  fashion — half  laugh,  half 
anger.  Let  us^  however,  remark  that  this  formal 
revolt,  persisted  in  by  Soulouque,  against  the  man 
who  represented,  in  his  eyes,  French  civilization, 
was  only  an  indirect  consequence,  although  a  logi- 
cal one^  of  the  feeling  which  had  induced  him  to 
yield,  twice  before.  It  was  about  the  end  of  Au- 
gust ;  all  the  details  of  this  European  melo-drama 
were,  therefore  already  known  in  the  Antilles  in 
one  hundred  and  twenty  days,  on  which  the  victory 
of  June  dropped  the  curtain .  Soulouque  who  read , 
eagerly,  the  journals  of  France,  and  the  United 
States,  was  delighted  (as  not  long  before  he  was  on 


182  SOITLOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

the  subject  of  Santana)  at  the  proofs  of  cliaracter 
given  by  the  democrats  from  Madrid  to  Berlin  ;  and 
it  is,  only,  because  the  black  chief  piqued  himself, 
ujDon  borrowing  from  civilized  Europe  his  opinions 
and  clothes,  that  we  can  understand  Avhat  new  turn 
his  dispositions  had  received  from  this  influence. 
M.  Raybaud  in  endeavoring  to  impose  clemency  on 
him,  in  the  same  way  he  had  done  the  past  year, 
was  evidently  rather  suspected  :  '  the  loliiies  only 
ridicule  the  negroes,'  he  would  say. 

However,  the  three  condemned  persons  at  Port- 
au-Prince  had  not  yet  perished  ;  this  is  explained 
by  negro  j^hysiology.  During  the  first  revolu- 
tion, Commissioner  Sonthonax,  in  order  to  per- 
fect the  new  freed-men  in  republicanism,  wished  to 
introduce  the  guillotine  at  Port-au-Prince — then 
Port-Repuhlican.  A  white  man,  named  Pelou,  a 
native  of  Rouen,  suffered  the  costs  of  the  first  ex- 
periment. A  comjiact  mass  of  blacks,  whom  Jean- 
not,  Biassou,  Lapointe  and  Romaine-la-Propetesse, 
had  surfeited,  on  every  human  atrocity,  surrounded 
the  place  of  execution.  But,  either  the  wind,  that 
day,  had  a  i3articular  influence  on  the  African 
nervous  system,  or,  the  terrible  effect  of  the  ma- 
chine, bewildered  the  notions  of  these  simple  men, 
who  had  never  put  the  whites  to  death  except, 
inch  by  inch, — the  head  had  scarcely  fallen,  when 
a  prolonged  howl  of  grief  and  fright,  went  up  from 
the  front  rank  of  the  spectators  ;  and  was,  by  de- 
grees, communicated  to  that  portion  of  the  crowd, 
which  had  seen  nothing,  by  means  of  that  animal 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  183 

electricity,  an  example  of  wliicli  the  vaudoux  has 
already  furnished.  In  a  few  seconds  the  guillo- 
tine was  torn  to  pieces— and  has  never  since  been 
erected  in  Hayti. 

More  than  fifty  years  afterwards,  a  similar  scene 
transpired  in  Port-au-Prince.     Soulouque  ordered, 
that  the  executions  should  take  place  at  Las-Oaho- 
bcas,  a  village  on  the  Dominican   frontier.     The 
three  condemned  men,  in  fetters,  set  out  on   the 
journey,  under  guard  of  a  hundi'ed  and  fifty  police- 
men, and  an  entire  regiment  of  inflintrv,  towards 
this  destination.     But,  whilst  passing  through  the 
city,  their  sad  and  resigned  bearing  excited  amon- 
the  women,  such  an  impulse  of  sympathy,  such  a 
tempest  of  cries  and  tears,  that  the  effect  became 
contagious  and  extended  even  to  the  blacks      In 
.spite  of  the  efi^orts  of  the  soldiers,  every  body  pre- 
cipitated themselves  towards  the  condemned  men, 
embraced  them,  and  squeezed  their  hands      Tlie 
soldiers  and  officers,  finally,  could  not  restrain  it  • 
and  soon  afterwards,  the  most  violent  murmurs 
broke  out,  even  in  the  ranks  of  the  escort  against 
so  much  cruelty.     The  dismal  cortege  departed 
nevertheless,  from  the  city,  and  marched  for  four 
hours,  towards  Las-Cahobas  ;  but,  either  his  own 
nerves  had  been  shaken  by  this  scene,  or,  because 
ot  the  universal  reprobation,  which  spontaneously 
assailed  it,  he  wished   to  give  himself  time  to  re- 
flect,—the   President  sent  an  order,  to   have  the 
condemned  men  remanded  to  prison. 

At    night-hill,    they,    therelbre/ passed    again 


184  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIEE. 

througli  the  cityj  preceded,  surrounded,  and  fol- 
lowed^ by  a  compact  mass  of  j^eople  of  all  colors, 
drunk  with  joy,  who  shouted,  "  vive  le  President!" 
It  might  have  been  remarked  that  the  blacks  of 
the  quarters,  Morne-a-Tuf  and  Bel-Air — those  who 
were  the  most  hostile,  and  excited,  against  the 
mulattoes, — shouted,  laughed,  and  wept,  more  ve- 
hemently than  any  others  ;  and  the  city  being 
spontaneously  illuminated,  these  quarters  presented 
the  most  sjilendid  illumination. 

All  was  saved.  Paper-money  rose  more  than  a 
quarter  ;  the  orators  of  Morne-a-Tuf  proclaimed, 
that  the  mulattoes  possessed  some  merit ;  and  that, 
after  all,  they  had  suffered  enough.  Even  Sou- 
louque  appeared  to  experience  the  contagion,  decid- 
edly ;  for,  (what  had  not  happened  since  the  begin- 
ning of  this  reign  of  terror,  even  to  the  few  suspects 
acquitted,  here  and  there,  by  the  councils  of  war) 
he,  successively,  caused  fifteen,  of  those  detained, 
to  be  freed  ;  the  most  insignificant,  it  is  true,  of 
the  five  or  six  hundred  persons  who  filled  the  dun- 
geons at  Port-au-Prince.  But,  three  weeks  after- 
wards, the  enlargements  ceased  ;  the  arrests  begun  ; 
the  President  had  eight  of  the  principal  colored 
inhabitants  of  Jacmel  shot,  of  whom  the  piquets, 
as  I  have  said,  had  complained.  The  populace  of 
Port-au-Prince,  insulted  and  menaced,  not  only, 
the  mulattoes,  but  even  the  black  bourgeoisie ;  and 
the  country  people,  finally,  spoke  more  than  ever 
of  coming  to  pillage  the  city.  This  was  a  financial 
experiment  of  ISoulouque. 


X. 

The  conspiracy  of  capital  in  Hayti. 

Hayti  presents  this  miracle  of  credit — a  paper- 
mone}^,  not  resting  upon  any  metallic,  or  terri- 
torial pledge — a  paper  money,  which  the  Govern- 
ment issues,  at  discretion,  reserving  the  right,  to 
redeem  it  when  it  pleases^  and  at  such  rate,  as  it 
pleases  ;  and  wliich,  moreover,  it  declares  spurious 
money,  hy  refusing  to  receive  it,  in  payment  for 
importation  duties.  And  notwithstanding  all  this, 
at  the  close  of  twenty  years,  on  the  accession  of 
Soulouque,  it  still  circulated,  for  ahout  one-fftli  of 
its  nominal  value.  In  otlier  words,  in  1847,  about 
seventy-two  gourdes  of  paper,  (the  real  gourde  is 
worth  5  francs  and  some  centimes,)  was  necessary 
to  represent  one  doubloon — that  is,  a  Spanish  gold- 
piece  of  85  francs  value. 

The  Haytien  gourde  has,  as  we  see,  a  well  deter- 
mined character.  The  scenes  of  the  month  of 
April,  and  the  terror  following  them,  did  not  fail, 
nevertheless,  to  affect  it.  What  has  preserved  its 
currency,  until  now,  is  tlie  fact,  that  the  import- 
ers of  foreign  merchandise,  accepted  it,  from  the 
retailers,  thanks  to  the  certainty  of  their  being 
able  to  pass  it,  immediately,  to  the  planters,  in 


186  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

IJayment  for  their  coffee.  The  planters  receive  it 
in  preference  to  specie,  which  they  mistrust  much 
more.  But  the  murders  and  imprisonments  ;  the 
flight  of  the  greater  numher  of  the  retailers  ;  and 
the  serious  fears,  which  such  a  condition  of  things 
caused  the  importers  to  feel,  with  regard  to  the 
solvency  of  others — arrested  transactions  ;  and  as 
a  consequence,  the  circulation  of  the  gourde. 

The  little  coin,  which  remained  in  the  country, 
had  also  contrihuted,  until  then,  to  sustain  the 
gourde — either  hy  entering  for  a  part  stipulated 
beforehand,  in  the  agreements — or,  by  supplying, 
as  odd-money,  the  insufficiency  of  change,  in  the 
transactions  of  the  retailers  witli  consumers.  But 
the  j:>?'0scn'^s  and  the  fugitives,  knowing  very  well 
that  the  Haytien  paper-money,  outside  of  Hayti, 
was  worth  only  so  much  paper,  had  swept  off,  in 
leaving  the  Island  almost  all  the  metallic  cur- 
rency. This  double  support  being  wanting,  the 
gourde  suddenly  lost  more  tlian  a  third  of  its  cur- 
rent value. 

The  duties  on  importations  are  tlie  principal  re- 
source of  the  Haytien  treasury  ;  in  consequence  of 
interrupting  trade,  the  public  revenue  diminished, 
therefore,  more  than  a  half.  This  reduction  of  re- 
ceipts, coinciding  with  tlie  expedition  to  the  South, 
and  the  levy  enmasse — that  is,  with  an  enormous  in- 
crease of  expenses — tlie  ministers  were  soon  com- 
pelled to  announce,  tremblingly  to  Soulouque,  that 
funds  were  wanting.     "  We  must  make  them," 


SOULOTJQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  187 

calmly  replied  tlie  Executive.  And  the  fabrica- 
tion of  paper-money — wliicli  was  only  done,  occa- 
sionally, so  as  not  to  lose  the  art — was  briskly  car- 
ried on,  to  an  issue,  of  irom  fifteen^  io  twenty  thou- 
sand gourdes  a  daj^  But  the  notes,  unfortunately, 
had  this  peculiarity — tliat  the  quantity,  ftir  from 
making  up  for  tlie  quality,  injured  it.  The  little 
foreign  commerce  which  still  supplied  the  daily 
consumption,*  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  Haytien 
retailers, t  Avho  were  the  intermediaries  of  this 
trade,  at  length  refused,  therefore,  to  accept  the 
paper-gourde  but  at  the  rate  of  185  to  the  doubloon, 
(nearly  the  tivelfth  of  its  nominal  value.) 

The  ^' black  people"  have  so  entirely  lost  the 
use  of  money,  properly  so  called — are  so  entirely 
accustomed  to  use  notes  as  a  normal  money — that, 
taking  (as  the  ^^  white  peo})le  "  have  done  already, 
and  with  still  less  reason)  the  effect  for  the  cause, 
they  consider  this  depreciation  of  the  representa- 
tive value  of  the  gourde^  as  a  real  rise  in  the  price 
of  products.  Two  facts  have  aided  in  producing 
this  mistake.  Firstly,  the  government,  which 
cannot,  honestly,  encourage  a  depreciation,  already 
so  rapid,  continues  to  pay  off  the  civil  and  mili- 


*  This  country,  the  richest  in  the  Avorld,  is  compelled  to  obtain 
from  abroad,  the  fourth  part  of  its  articles  of  prime  necessity — 
such  as,  meal,  meats,  salt-fish,  soap  and  all  articles  of  dress. 

t  By  the  terms  of  the  law,  all  the  retail-trade  is  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  the  citizens  of  ITayti. 


188  SOULOIIQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

tary  riinctioiuirie.s,  at  tlie  I'ate  of  the  noniinal  val- 
uation of  the  gourde.  In  the  second  place,  as  it  is 
natural,  that  wages  should  fall  in  projjortion  to 
tlie  diminution  of  transactions,  and  the  emigration 
of  llie  wealthy  consumers,  the  day-laborer,  because 
of  this  fall,  continues,  not  only  to  receive  the  same 
number  of  notes  for  the  same  amount  of  labor,  but, 
not  being  able  to  comprehend,  that  his  Avork  is 
valued  less,  he  therefore  concludes,  from  the  ac- 
knowledgments even  of  capitalists,  that  the  real 
value  of  the  note  has  not  varied.  Therefore,  there 
was  a  conspiracy,  between  the  foreign  merchants 
and  the  retailers,  to  starve  the  poor  people,  and  to 
oblige  them  to  pay,  for  products  of  first  necessity, 
twice  and  a  half  dearer  than  in  1847  ;  therefore, 
it  was  necessary  to  give  a  lesson  to  this  infamous 
capital.  The  infamous  capital,  which  they  wished 
to  oppose  by  mildness,  only  became  the  more  fero- 
cious by  it,  and  the  '^  black  people"  saw  in  this 
increased  defiance,  only  a  new  proof  of  the  con- 
spiracy, in  question.  The  financial  programme  of 
the  friends  of  Similien — that  is,  pillage,  combined 
with  the  industrial,  and  commercial  monopoly  of 
the  government — responded  (May  and  June,  1848) 
to  this  double  prejudice. 

The  feeble  hope  of  security,  which,  the  pardon 
granted  to  General  Desmaret  and  his  companions, 
produced,  reacted  on  the  gourde,  which,  from  185 
to  the  doubloon  fell,  suddenlj^,  to  150  ;  but  it  was 
a  depreciation,  at  least,  of  a  hundred  per  cent.,  in 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  189 

comparison  with  the  valuation  of  1847  ;  and  the 
first  outburst  of  African  sensibility  having  ])assed 
by,  the  common  people,  recommenced  their  com- 
])laints,  against  the  cons])iracy  of  the  merchants. 
Besides,  when  the  French,  English  and  American 
shippers  had  been  informed,  in  the  interval,  of 
what  occurred  at  Hayti,  it  happened  that  all  ar- 
rivals from  abroad  ceased,  (in  September,  the  road- 
stead of  Port-au-Prince  liad  onlv  a  sincrle  forei^^'n 
vessel  in  it,)  just  at  the  time,  the  small  quantity 
of  supplies,  which  remained  in  circulation,  were 
consumed.  Hence  a  rise  in  the  price  of  products, 
(this  time  too  real,)  which  was  a  new  cause  of 
popular  effervescence,  and  commercial  panic  ;  and 
the  gourde  was  restored  to  185. 

The  army,  which,  because  of  this  depreciation, 
was  compelled  to  feed  and  lodge  itself,  at  the  rate 
oi  six  centimes  a  day  to  the  man, — the  subaltern 
officers,  who,  with  their  hundred  francs  a  year, 
were  reduced  to  ask  alms,  when  they  were  not  em- 
ployed as  laborers, — and  the  innumerable  civil 
functionaries  who  made  the  counterpart  of  an  effec- 
tive military,  proportionally  seven-fold  as  great  as 
our  own,  and  who,  seeing  the  hardness  of  the  times, 
had  not  even  the  resource  of  pillage — all  this 
world  of  gold-lace,  and  rags, — sliouted  famine,  as 
loudly,  as  tlie  common  people.  The  Government 
was  alarmed  at  it ;  and,  in  order  to  divert  the  storm, 
it  became  very  necessary  to  encourage  those  preju- 
dices, which  it  could  only  have  dissipated,  by  avow- 


190  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  ExMPIRE. 

ing  itself  the  author  of  all  the  evil.  It  proclaimed, 
therefore,  on  two  occasions,  tlfat,  it  was  ahont  to 
put  a  stoj),  to  the  outrageous  rise  in  all  the  articles 
of  co7isum]ption ;  caused,  it  is  said,  by  the  enemies 
of  the  people, — only  a  part  of  which  had  succomhed, 
to  the  sword  of  the  law, — and  by  the  bad  faith  of 
Haytiens,  who  conspired  against  the  public  good, 
otJieriuise  than  by  arms. 

On  seeing  the  Government  completely  of  their 
opinions,  the  black  people  understood  at  least,  that 
they  might  leave  the  instrument  itself  of  conspi- 
racy, in  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  public  weal, 
and  yet,  the  warehouses  would  not  be  pillaged. 
The  panic  reached  its  height.  Fortunately,  Sou- 
louque  and  the  Secretary  of  State  for  finances,  M. 
Salomon,  only  intended  to  accept  the  second  part 
of  the  financial  programme  of  Similien  ; — that  is, 
monopoly  complicated  to  the  utmost— which  was 
returning  to  the  old  idea  of  Acaau.  M.  Salomon, 
himself,  for  a  long  time,  caressed  this  idea  ;  and  it 
was  by  this  title,  that  the  Similien  faction,  had 
given  him,  on  the  9th  of  April,  the  portfolio  of 
Finance. 

The  Government,  however,  at  first,  only  monop- 
olised two  articles  of  export — cotton,  and  (the 
principal  of  all)  coffee.  It  reserved  the  right,  to 
monopolise  these  two  articles,  at  fixed  prices,  and 
to  distribute  them  among  the  merchants.  The 
price  of  selling  by  wholesale,  the  greater  part  of 
foreign  merchandise,  was  also  fixed  by  the  admin- 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  191 

istration.  The  mere  announcement  of  a  system, 
Avhich  was  about  to  give,  in  fact,  a  fixed  and  forced 
currency  to  the  gourde,  produced,  let  us  acknowl- 
edge, one  of  the  results  M.  Salomon  expected  ;  from 
185  gourdes  to  the  doubloon,  paper  fell  again  to  110. 
But  this  was,  only,  the  consequence  of  a  series  of 
mistakes,  more  and  more  decisive,  whicli  we  ask 
permission  to  enumerate  briefly,  and  in  order  not 
to  return  again  to  it.  The  favorite  excuse  of  white 
socialism  is,  that  they  have  not  been  willing  to  put 
it  to  a  trial.  But  the  experiment  has  been  made  ; 
it  was  a  veritable  socialistic  experiment  that  Sou- 
louque  made. 

First  error  :  When  the  Government  found  itself, 
face  to  face,  with  the  necessities  of  practice,  it  com- 
prehended, willing  or  unwilling,  that  Hayti,  not 
being  the  only  country  of  America,  which  sold 
coffee,  and  bought  meal,  salt-provisions,  soap,  tis- 
sues, &c.,  all  tarification  of  tlie  one,  or  the  other 
class  of  products,  which  would  be  onerous  to  for- 
eign commerce,  would  only  end  in  driving  the  latter 
from  tlie  national  markets.  Prices  ought,  there- 
fore, to  be  so  fixed,  that  the  foreign  merchants 
would  not  complain  of  it,  and,  really,  there  would 
bono  demands  ;  ]u-oof  positive  that  these  merchants 
could  lose  nothing,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  pro- 
ducers and  consumers  gained  nothing.  Tlius,  the 
fundamental  data  of  the  system :— diminution  of 
the  price  of  foreign  merchandise— and  augmen- 
tation  of  the    price   of  domestic    products   were 


192  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EJViPlllE. 

abandoned^  even  before  this  system  went  into  opera- 
tion. Further,  it  was  necessary  to  institute.,  in 
each  of  the  eleven  ])orts,  open  to  importation,  an 
adminisiration  of  monopoly  ;  that  is,  new  machinery, 
and  a  new  intermediaire,  to  use  a  technical  term. 
The  expenses,  occasioned  by  this  new  interme- 
diaire,  would  not  fall,  (for  the  reasons  1  have 
given.)  on  foreign  commerce  ;  and  before  however, 
burdening  any  one,  they  would  fall,  necessarily, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  on  the  native  sellers 
and  buyers,  whose  situation,  in  consequence,  was 
found  aggravated. 

Second  error  :  The  crop  of  coffee  was,  by  chance, 
very  poor  that  year ;  socialism  did  not  insure  against 
these  kinds  of  accidents.  Under  the  regime  of  free 
competition,  high  prices  compensated  the  cultiva- 
tors, for  the  scarcity  of  their  ^n'oducts  ;  but,  as  one 
of  the  objects  of  the  law  was,  precisely,  to  give 
some  fixity  to  t\iegou7xle,  by  making  prices  certain, 
- — as,  on  the  other  hand^  the  government,  after 
having  taken  away,  from  foreign  commerce,  the 
advantages  of  free  competition,  could  not,  at  the 
risk  of  driving  it  away,  impose  on  it  charges,  by  a 
great  increase  of  the  fixed  prices — the  tariff  was 
not  altered.  The  deficit  of  the  coffee  crop  was  thus 
transfered  to  agricultural  labor,  (which  they  had 
pretended  to  benefit)  by  a  clear  loss. 

Third  error  :  Under  the  regime  of  free  com23eti- 
tion,  certain  ship-captains,  by  favor  of  older  and 
more  extended  relations  than  those  of  their  rivals. 


SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  [<)?) 

would  succeed,  in  spite  of  tlie  deficiency  of  the  crop, 
in  completing  their  cargoes.  Many  other  vessels, 
it  is  true,  would  have  to  leave  empty  ; — but  their 
captains,  or  their  agents,  could  only  attribute  it  to 
the  want  of  activity.  From  the  time,  on  tlie  con- 
trary, that  the  Government  monopolised  the  sale 
of  coffee,  at  the  risk  of  deserving  the  reproach  of 
partiality,  and  driving  away  forever,  from  the  Hay- 
tien  market,  the  rejected  importers,  it  could  not 
exclude  a  single  vessel  from  its  share.  The  distri- 
bution was  therefore  made  pro-rata,  according  to 
the  value  of  the  merchandise  introduced.  It  re- 
sulted from  this  inetliod  of  division,  that  a  vessel 
such  as  had  imported  a  cargo  of  the  value  of  50  or 
00,000  francs,  obtained,  only,  at  great  pains,  and 
after  long  delays,  a  counter-value  of  from  5  to  6000 
francs.     Every  body  was  constantly  dissatisfied. 

Those  captains,  who  lost  by  this  innovation,  the 
benefit  of  a  long  acquaintance  with  the  Haytien 
market — that  is,  those  even  whom  it  was  most  im- 
portant not  to  discourage— returned  from  it,  swear- 
ing that  they  would  not  be  caught  again,  in  that 
socialist  nest.  For  similar  reasons,  the  principal 
foreign  consignees  wrote,  urgently,  to  their  houses, 
to  suspend  all  shipments.  The  receipts  of  the  cus- 
toms, which,  by  the  cessation  of  emigration,  had 
recovered  somewhat,  soon  fell  again.  In  order  to 
arrest  this  commercial  desertion,  the  Government 
authorised  the  foreign  vessels  to  go,  (by  way  of 
keeping  them,)  and  complete  their  cargoes  of  coffee 


194  SOULOUQTJE   AND   TITS   EAIPTRE. 

in  all  tlie  open  ports  of  tlie  Island — even,  in  tliose, 
wliicli  liad  been,  exclusively,  reserved  before  this 
to  the  Haytien  coasting-trade  ;'tliis  ruined  the  lat- 
ter. But  here  is  the  worst  of  it :  the  American 
vessels,  loaded  with  meal,  signified  to  the  Govern- 
ment, that  they  would  not  unload  their  meal^  but 
in  exchange  for  fidl  cargoes  of  coffee  ;  and  it  was 
necessary  to  take  these  from  the  quantity  to  be  dis- 
tributed, for  scarcity  was  imminent.  Those  foreign 
importers,  whose  trade  did  not  prevent  Hayti  from 
being  taken  by  famine,  reduced  more  and  more 
their  operations. 

Fourth  error :  Some  traders  who  were  obliged, 
come  what  might,  to  dispatch  their  vessels,  agreed 
to  pay  to  contraband  a  premium,  which  rose  some- 
times to  a  hundred  per  cent.  The  speculators  kept 
for  themselves  the  half  of  this  premium,  and  devoted 
the  other  half  to  buying  .  .  .  the  employees  of 
the  monopoly.  By  tbe  force  of  things  alone,  every- 
thing returned  to  the  former  condition,  with  this  dif- 
ference nearly — that  the  treasury  was  deprived  of 
the  duties  on  exports  ;  and  the  high  prices  bene- 
fited, not  the  producers,  but  extortioners,  and  stock- 
jobbers. 

Fifth  error  :  Not  being  able  to  indemnify  them- 
selves, for  the  over-tax,  with  which  contraband 
speculation  oppressed  tlie  export  of  coffee,  but  by  a 
corresponding  rise  in  imported  merchandise,  the 
foreign  merchants  refused,  suddenly,  to  deliver 
these  goods,  at  the  price,  fixed  by  the  monopoly 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  195 

law.  The  '^ black  people,"  naturally ,  recommenced 
their  threats  against  the  conspiracy  of  capital. 
The  retailers,  especially,  because  of  their  being 
Haytiens,  were  insulted  every  day,  and  struck  by 
the  poj^ulace.  The  gourde  did  not  improve  by  all 
this  ;  and  M.  Salomon  accelerated  the  crisis,  by 
endeavoring  to  stop  it. 

He  began,  by  excluding  from  the  division  of  the 
monopolised  products,  the  trading  consignees,  who 
refused  to  sell  at  tlie  tariff  price  ;  and,  in  order  to 
prevent  this  interdict  being  eluded  by  fraud,  he 
sought  to  compel  the  traders  to  deposit  their  mer- 
chandise, to  be  given  out  by  the  customs-officer, 
in  a  common  locality,  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment, without  guarantee  against  fire,  robbery,  or 
riots.  Besides,  he  rendered  the  retailers  liable  to 
penalties  and  seizure,  who  refused,  on  their  part, 
to  submit  to  the  tariff;  and  domiciliary  visits^,  con- 
fiscation, and  beatings,  at  length  succeeded  in 
bringing  to  reason  this  wicked  capital.  We  fore- 
see^the  rest.  Scarcely  a  year  had  passed  away, 
Avhen  M.  Salomon  was  able  to  inscribe,  on  the 
door  of  his  economical  edifice;  ''Sold  at  sixty-five 
per  cent,  discoimt  for  tlie  purpose  of  peremptory  and 
general  settlement."  I  do  not  exaggerate  it :  the 
monopoly  prices  were  only  bearable,  at  the  valua- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  ten  gourdes  to  the  doub- 
loon ;  but  under  the  influence  of  these  monstrosities, 
(which,  moreover,  were  but  the  most  practical, 
logical,  and  conclusive,  consecjucncc  of  the  socialist 


196  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE. 

principle,  proposed  by  M.  Salomon)  tlie  rate  of  the 
doubloon  was,  gradually,  raised  to  tioo  hundred  and 
eighty-tivo ;  wlien,  at  the  very  height  of  emigration, 
arrests  and  executions,  it  had  not  exceeded  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five.  It  is  useless  to  add,  that 
the  cultivators,  being  obliged  to  deliver  their  coffee, 
at  the  rate  of  from  nine  to  ten  centimes  the  pound, 
ceased  for  the  most  part  to  gather  it.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  speak  further,  of  what  became  of  the 
last  receipts  of  the  treasury,  under  the  influence  of 
a  situation,  where  all  things  were,  fatally,  com- 
bined-to  exhaust  the  resources  at  once,  without  and 
within.  At  the  present  time.  His  Majesty,  Faustin 
the  1st,  (whose  monarchical  splendors  we  will  soon 
have  to  relate,)  would  be^  probably,  reduced  to 
clothe  himself,  with  a  banana  leaf,  and  to  dine 
with  his  Minister  of  Finance,  if  the  latter,  helped 
by  a  fortunate  despair,  had  not  brought  his  country, 
and  his  Emperor,  back  to  the  modest  regime  of  the 
bourgeoisie  political  economy.* 

At  the  time  of  decreeing  this  socialist  experiment, 
Soulouque  deigned  to  remember,  that  he  had 
Chambers  to  enact  laws;  and  the  Chambers,  re- 
cently so  boastful,  sanctioned  by  a  vote,  as  mute  as 
it  was  unanimous,  the  fantasies  of  M.  Salomon. 

*Tlie  monoply  was  aljolislied  in  the  beginning  of  1850.  At  the 
first  departure  from  this  system,  the  doubloon  fell  from  two  hundred 
and  eightj^-two  gourdes  to  one  hundred  and  forty-four  ;  and  coffee, 
which  the  cultivators  were  obliged  to  sell,  at  the  rate  of  ten  francs 
the  quintal,  rose  to  thirty-five,  and  even  to  forty  francs. 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  197 

Soulouq[ue,  as  usual,  opened  tlie  session  in  person  ; 
and,  insensible  as  tliey  were  to  tliis  kind  of  emotion, 
an  involuntary  sliudder  ran  along  all  the  benches, 
when  they  noticed,  in  the  presidential  cortege,  that 
very  Voltaire  Castor,  who  had  poniarded,  with  his 
own  hand,  seventy  of  the  prisoners  garrotted  at 
Cavaillon.  His  Excellency  announced  to  the  Parlia- 
ment— 'that  the  rebels  being  nesLrly  vanquished , 
Hayti  was  about  to  reach,  at  length,  that  degree  of 
grandeur  and  j^rosperity,  which  divine  Providence 
had  reserved  for  it.'  The  chorus  of  vivats,  which 
welcomed  this  speech  of  the  President,  was  less 
full  than  usual — and  for  a  very  simple  reason: 
a  tliird  of  the  senators,  and  a  portion  of  the  repre- 
sentatives, were  absent,  because  of  proscription,  or 
death. 

In  order  to  prove,  certainly,  that  this  <  was, 
neither  discontent,  nor  coldness,  on  their  part,  the 
chamber  of  Representatives,  two  days  afterwards, 
warmly  thanked  the  President,  for  having  saved 
the  country,  and  the  Constitution.  There  was  not 
a  single  page  of  that  Constitution,  which  had  not 
furnished  wads  to  the  guns,  before  which.  Deputies 
and  Senators,  had  fallen,  by  the  dozen.  At  one  of 
the  following  sittings,  a  representative,  'consider- 
ing, that  the  President  of  Hayti  had  merited  well 
of  the  country,  for  his  constant  efforts,  in  maintain- 
ing order  and  the  institutions,  proposed  to  grant 
him,  as  a  title  of  national  recompense,  a  house  of  his 
own   choice,    situated   in   the   city;'    and    the   two 


198  SOULOUQL'E  AND   HIS   EMPIKi). 

Chambers,  moved  as  by  a  spring,  rose,  c?i  masse, 
for  its  adoption. 

Three  months  passed,  afterwards,  in  silent  votes ; 
but  soon  this  satisfied  and  decimated  majority, 
trembled,  when  they  found  that  their  silence  was 
taken,  for  an  implied  protest.  And  it  hastened  to 
burn,  another  grain  of  incense,  at  the  feet  of  the 
negro  tyrant.  The  orator  of  the  Senate,  said : 
''Already,  Mr.  President,  we  have  shown  the  bene- 
ficent influence  of  your  sage  and  moderate  admin- 
istration  At  your  voice,  passions  die,   (he 

had  cut  their  throats  !),  and  the  reign  of  established 
laws  has  become  a  verity  to  us  all Circum- 
stances have,  happily,  conspired  to  put  in  relief 
3^our  high  character,  exhibiting  every  thing  noble 
and  generous.      Continue,  Mr.  President^  do  not 

pause " 

The  orator  of  the  Chamber  of  Kepresentatives, 
in  his  turn,  exclaimed:  ''How  great  is  the  love 
of  the  nation  for  your  Excellency  !  How  much  is 
it  honored  by  your  pa^enia?  administration,  by 
those  noble  sentiments  oi fraternity ,  by  the  concord 
and  clemency  J  which  animate  you — and  which  have 
transported  it,  many  times,  with  enthusiasm!" 
{Moniteur  Haytien,  the  6th  of  January,  1849.) 

Toussaint,  Dessalines,  and  Chrif^tophe,  were  able 
to  exercise  a  tyranny  quite  as  hard — but  never,  as 
well  received,  as  that  of  this  formidable  poltroon, 
to  whom,  every  shadow  was  a  phantom,  and  every 
silence  an  ambuscade.     And  this  was  not  the  stupor 


SOULOUQUM    AND    HIS    EMPIKK.  19^ 

of  the  first  moment  of  .surprise,  wliicli  froze  every 
will  about  him.  From  that  parliament,  bloody 
with  tlie  murderous  blows  struck  at  its  inviolability, 
and  which,  wij^cd  the  blood  from  its  own  visage, 
to  allow  a  liypocritical  smile  to  be  seen — from  the 
remnant  of  that  mulatto  poi)ulation,  which  was 
forbidden,  even,  the  confederacy  of  sorrow, — from 
those  prisons,  whose  limits,  badly  secured  and 
guarded,  enclosed  enough  suspects  to  form,  at  need, 
an  avenging  army — there  has  not  even  to  this  day, 
arisen,  a  single  cry,  whicli  has  not  been  one  of 
servile  devotion. 

We  ought  not,  after  all,  to  com])lain  of  it ;  be- 
cause the  ultra-black  faction,  wliicli  remains, 
alone,  standing  in  tlie  midst  of  this  universal 
prostration,  must,  sooner  or  later,  attract  and  fix 
that  suspicious  look,  which  blights  all  that  is  not 
engulfed.  And  indeed,  we  are  about  to  see,  the 
three  heads  of  this  faction,  suffer  the  consequences 
of  those  inexorable  suspicions,  Avhich  it  excited. 
This  second  reaction  will  be,  happily,  let  us  remark, 
much  less  mournful  tluin  the  first,  although  the 
victims  of  it  are  less  wortliy  of  pity.  The  one 
sprang  out  of  a  dream  of  extermination — the  other 
is  to  issue  out  of  a  buttle  of  rum.  Rum,  naturallv, 
leads  us  to  General  Si  milieu. 


XI. 

A  sun-set.     The  misfortunes  of  the  piquets.     A  voltairiiui  papa-loi. 

I  have  drawn,  at  length,  the  portrait  of  Similien ; 
and,  if  the  moral  conduct  of  this  frightful  person- 
age, has  not  been  too  much  lost  to  view,  one  will 
not  he  astonished,  to  see  him  fall  a  victim  to  his 
own  sensibilities.  Here  is  the  new  turn  his  feel- 
ings served  him. 

A  few  days  after  the  massacres  of  April,  1848, 
Bellegarde,  as  we  have  seen,  inspiring  as  much 
security,  as  he  had  previously  caused  fear^  received 
a  warm  address  of  thanks  from  the  bourgeoisie  of 
Port-au-Prince.  The  only  merit  of  the  new  favor- 
ite, and  of  his  second,  the  commander  of  the  place, 
was  in  having  held  Similien  in  check  ;  but  to  make 
it  plain,  a  dangerous  challenge  had  been  thrown 
down  to  the  latter.  After  the  example  of  that 
devotee,  who,  in  order  to  avoid  making  enemies  on 
any  side,  was  careful  not  to  forget  the  devil  in  his 
prayers,  the  bourgeoisie  thought,  therefore^  it  was 
prudent  to  include  Similien  in  the  official  expres- 
sion of  its  thanks,  with  the  two  men,  who  were 
the  objects  of  it.  This  sudden  stroke  of  flattery 
happened  to  surprise  him,  just  at  the  time,  he  gave 
himself  up,  betw^een  two  flasks  of  rum,  to  his  daily 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  201 

meditations  on  the  ingratitude  of  the  mulattoes  ; 
and  J  being  the  more  touched  with  such  a  return  of 
sympathy  because  he  felt  he  had  done  nothing  to 
merit  it,  he  was  seized,  while  sitting,  with  the  real 
tenderness  of  a  drunkard,  for  that  very  colored 
population,  wliicli  he  was  about  to  devote  to  mas- 
sacre, pillage,  and  conflagration. 

Similien  was,  fortunately,  subject  to  seeing  dou- 
ble, as  well  morally  as  physically.  In  returning 
liis  thanks  to  the  mulattoes,  he  had  no  intention 
of  embroiling  himself  with  their  enemies  ;  the  more 
so,  that  these,  being  deeply  wounded  by  the  obsta- 
cles, which  Bellegarde  opposed  to  their  schemes  of 
pilLige,  were  the  natural  allies  of  the  supplanted 
favorite.  Accordingly,  Similien  divided  his  life 
into  two  parts,  which  he  kept  sacred' — the  one,  to 
drink  with  tlie  mulattoes,  in  order  to  discharge 
the  debt  of  his  heart — the  other,  to  drink  with  the 
ultra-black  leaders,  to  preserve  their  exasperation 
against  the  mulatto  tendencies  of  his  rival.  This 
zigzag  of  drunkenness,  had  a  two-fold  success. 
Not  content  with  bidding  highest  on  the  communist 
programme  of  t\\Q piquets,  this  coterie  of  plunderers, 
ultimately,  demanded  of  it  as  I  have  said,  the 
banishment  of  Bellegarde. 

On  their  part,  the  men  of  color,  measuring  their 
urbanity  by  the  increasing  terror,  with  which,  Simi- 
lien inspired  them,  replied  with  an  empressement, 
day  after  day,  more  flattering  to  the  bacchanal 
politeness  of  this  terrible  associate.      The  latter 


202  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

concluded  from  tliis,  that  he  was  the  idol  of  both 
the  mulatto  and  ultra-black  parties.  His  head  was 
turned  ;  and  finding  that  tlie  insignificant  name, 
he  had  borne  until  then,  was  not  in  harmony  with 
his  high  destinies,  Similien  desired  to  be  called 
thenceforth,  only,  Blaximilien. 

Until  the  expiration,  either  by  law  or  revolution, 
of  the  presidential  powers,  would  allow  him  to 
add,  to  that  sonorous  name,  the  title  which  he  al- 
ready entertained  in  his  mind,  Similien  thought 
he  could  not  dispense  Avith  being,  at  least,  the  se- 
cond personage  of  the  State.     Therefore,  it  was 
necessary  to  evict  Bellegarde  •;  and  as  the  sudden 
favor   of    Bellegarde,  formerly  a   simple   colonel, 
could  only  be  explained  by  the  influence  of  the 
vaudoux,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  wildest  vo- 
taries, Similien  conceived  the  bold  project  of  sap- 
ping the  edifice,  at  its  base,  by  discrediting  the 
vaudoux.     Soulouque  being  still  absent,  the  unbe- 
lieving tailor  approached,  Madame  Soulouque,  on 
this  subject.     He  remonstrated,  with  her,  in  a  pa- 
ternal tone,  that  brother  Joseph  w^as  not,  what 
vain  people  thought ;  that  he  was,  in  a  strict  sense, 
permitted  to  render,  to  the  Supreme  Being,  the 
homage  of  a  pure  lieart ;  but  he  (Similien)  blushed 
to  see,  the  Chief  of  a  free  country,  open  his  palace 
to  droles,  and  drol esses,  who  burned  wax-tapers, 
cut  cards,  or  made  serpents  speak',  for  money. 

The  President's  lady,  who,  during  this  tirade^ 
had  several  times  nearly  fainted,  could  not  restrain 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  203 

the  indignation^  wliicli  tlie  monstrous  scepticism  of 
Similien  produced.  Plurt  at  the  reception,  his 
friendly  counsels  had  received,  the  latter,  in  his 
turn,  became  incensed,  and  they  came  to  angry 
words.  '^  I  will  write  to  the  President  about  it !" 
exclaimed  Madame  Soulouque.  ^ '  Very  w-cll ! ' '  ma- 
jestically replied  the  commander  of  the  guard — 
"  say  for  me,  to  the  President,  that  he  is  as  foolish 
as  you  are  ;  that  he  will  have  a  difference  Avith  me 
himself;  and  that  to  return  to  Port-au-Prince,  he 
must  submit  to  my  conditions." 

Similien,  however,  I  am  told,  was  unconscious  at 
the  monent,  of  all  he  said  under  the  influence  of 
anger  ;  but  believing  it  necessary  to  console  him- 
self for  the  ingratitude  of  w^omen,  as  formerly  he 
had  done  for  that  of  men,  by  a  double  draught  of 
rum,  he  was  unable  to  recover  a  lucid  quarter  of 
an  hour,  before  the  return  of  the  President,  to  af- 
ford him  an  opportunity  of  retracting  his  menaces. 
The  ultra-black  fliction  had  even  aggravated  these 
threats  by  taking  up  the  matter ;  and  I  leave  the  rea- 
der to  imagine  whether  the  President's  lady.  Belle- 
garde,  and  brother  Joseph  took  part,  from  this 
circumstance,  in  the  daily  denunciations  which 
they  w^ere  careful  should  reach  Soulouque.  Hence 
the  cold  reception  His  Excellency  gave  Similien  ; 
and  in  order  that  he  might  be  left,  in  no  doubt,  as 
to  his  disgrace,  the  next  day,  he  rebuked  him, 
with  an  evidently  affected  severity,  in  relation  to 
some  insisrnificant  details  of  the  service.     The  ex- 


204  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

favorite  believed  he  could  reclaim  Soiilouquej  by 
invoking  tlie  souvenirs  of  an  old  intimacy  ;  lie, 
therefore,  replied  as  a  companion — that  is,  with  a 
familiarity,  which  made  his  despotic  friend  knit  his 
brows. 

Similien  concluded  from  this,  that  the  friendly 
expression,  which  he  desired  to  give  his  words, 
was  not  sufficiently  manifest  ;  and  he  declared 
it  to  such  a  degree,  that  his  familiarity  degenera- 
ted into  impertinence,  which  ended  in  injuring  his 
prospects.  It  was,  therefore,  his  fate  to  be  always 
misunderstood.  At  the  end  of  his  expedients,  the 
sentimental  drunkard  remembered,  that,  in  a  simi- 
lar case,  he  had  succeeded  in  conquering  the  hearts 
of  the  mulattoes,  by  showing  them  what  it  would 
cost  to  become  embroiled  with  him  ;  he  imagined, 
by  an  analagous  proceeding,  to  regain  the  heart 
of  Soulouque.  In  other  words,  Similien  undertook 
to  conspire  in  earnest,  which,  with  the  help  of 
rum,  was  very  soon  a  secret  to  no  one.  The  Presi- 
•dent  dissimulated  several  months ; — when,  one 
morning,  at  the  parade  of  the  guards,  he  said  in  a 
brief  tone  to  the  old  favorite  :  '^  General  Similien, 
I  deprive  you  of  your  command.  Go  ;  and  remain 
under  arrest,  in  your  house,  until  further  orders  !" 

On  hearing  himself  thus  addressed,  in  the  midst 
of  that  very  guard,  whose  fanatical  devotion  he 
had  so  often  proved,  Similien  concluded^  in  good 
faith,  that  the  President  had  become  crazy  ;  but 
he  thought  he  dreamed   himself,  when   the  con- 


SOULOUQUE   AND    JITS    EMPIRE.  205 

tident  and  sneering  look,  lie  cast  rapidly  about 
him,  only  met  indifferent  countenances  and  mute 
mouths.  Not  a  man  stirred.  Similien  had  been, 
already,  some  days  under  arrest,  when  three  or 
four  officers,  first  dared  to  hazard  an  opinion  on 
that  measure.  Removed  durini>;  the  niii-ht,  these 
officers  were  taken,  by  sea,  to  the  dungeons,  at 
Mole  Saint-Nicholas,  and  spoke  no  more. 

After  mature  reflection,  Similien  discovered  the 
secret  of  the  enigma.  The  people  and  the  army, 
evidently,  exj^ected  to  rise,  in  his  favor^  when  Sou- 
louque  was  engaged,  in  his  next  expedition,  against 
Santo-Domingo  ;  they  had  only  affected  indiffer- 
ence, in  order  to  conceal  more  effectually  their 
scheme.  Indeed,  Soulouque  entered  upon  the  cam- 
paign, the  5th  of  March,  1849,  and  from  that  day 
Similien,  expecting  hourly,  that  his  friends,  the 
mulattoes  and  ultra-black  leaders,  would  come, 
arm  in  arm,  to  supplicate  him  to  accept  the  Presi- 
dency, took  no  pains,  afterwards,  to  conceal  his 
legitimate  hopes.  Six  weeks,  however,  had  al- 
read}^  passed  away  in  this  feverish  expectation,  and 
the  future  President  began  to  be  disturbed  ;  when, 
finally,  an  unusual  movement  was  made  about  the 
house. 

Considering  the  heat,  Similien  was,  properly, 
found  in  a  condition  of  toilette,  which  recalled 
much  more  the  formal  sitting  of  a  Mandingo  chief, 
tlian  that  of  a  Haytien  President.  Fearing  to 
compromise  the  dignity  of  his  debufj  he,  hastily, 


20G  SOULOUQUE  AND  IITS  EMPIRE. 

leaped  into  liis  pantaloons^  crying  to  the  numerous 
groups,  wliicli  he  heard  already  in  the  house,  to  be 
pleased  to  wait  a  little.  But  such  was  the  impa- 
tience of  the  visitors,  that  they  forced  the  door 
open,  seized  Similien,  hore  him,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  into  the  street,  and  there  drove  him 
with  blows,  not  towards  the  palace,  but  to  prison. 
They  cast  him,  half-naked  into  the  same  dungeon, 
from  which  David  Troy,  his  first  victim,  had  issued 
some  time  before,  to  proceed  to  execution ;  and, 
strange  coincidence,  this  occurred  the  16th  of 
April,  1849,  a  year,  to  the  day,  after  the  scene  of 
the  massacre,  which  inaugurated  the  programme 
of  Similien.  By  a  coincidence,  not  less  singular, 
Similien  suffered  in  that  dungeon  the  effects  of  the 
very  suspicions,  of  which  he  had  been  the  principal 
instigator.  Believing  himself,  in  fact,  sure  of  the 
ultra-black  element,  he  had  turned  exclusively,  in 
the  last  few  months,  towards  the  class  of  color, 
upon  which  he  relied  to  work  out  of  the  difficulty ; 
so  that  Soulouque  finally  regarded  him,  as  no- 
thing more  than  a  ^'mulatto  conspirator."  A  few 
screams  from  the  women,  which  seejned  rather 
produced,  by  astonishment,  than  commiseration, 
were  heard  on  the  passage  of  the  escort,  which 
carried  along  the  old  favorite  ;  but  that  was  all. 
The  male  part  of  the  population,  which,  formerly, 
would  have  burned  the  city  to  have  pleased  Simi- 
lien, did  not  stir,  any  more  tlian  the  guard  had 
done   previously.      The   ''philosophers"   (orators 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  207 

and  good  talkers)  of  the  quarters  of  Bel-Air,  and 
Morne-a-Tuf,  were  content,  to  point  tlieir  fingers  to 
the  two  opposite  points  of  the  horizon,  and  say  : 
'■^  The  sun  rises  there — and  sets  there'' — a  negro 
sentence,  which  is  intended  to  express  the  insta- 
bility of  hnman  grandeurs. 

The  ascendancy  of  respect  and  terror,  which 
Soulouque  exercised,  even  at  a  distance,  did  not 
alone  explain,  however,  this  new  attitude  of  Simi- 
lien's  friends.  In  thinking  to  sap  the  vaudoux 
creed,  the  latter  had  been  unconsciously  digging 
for  the  last  ten  months,  the  mine  in  which  his 
popularity  was  swallowed  up.  Soulouque  only 
delayed  his  action,  until  this  silent  work,  whose 
progress  his  spies  had  foUoAved  day  after  day,  pro- 
duced its  results.  The  counter-part,  in  a  word, 
was  complete  :  the  vaudoux,  which  was  the  first 
cause  of  the  ultra-black  irruption^  became  tlie  first 
instrument  of  reaction. 

To  finish  with  Similien,  let  us  remark,  that  he 
was  not  shot ;  but  some  months  afterwards,  he 
Avished  for  nothing  better.  A  step  was  taken  in 
his  favor,  on  the  occasion  of  proclaiming  the  Em- 
pire : — ^' He  get  out  of  prison!''  exclaimed  His 
Imperial  Majesty — "•  7ie  loill  he  covered  ivitli  moss 
first!"  Similien  sent  word  to  Soulouque  that  his 
legs  were  so  swelled  by  the  pressure  of  his  fetters, 
that  they  were  about  to  mortify  :— '^  I  do  not  care 
for  that  ;  icheii  tliey  fall  off,  he  can  he  chained,  hy 
the  neck!"  said  Faustin  1st,  adroitly.    The  cx-favor- 


208  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

ite  died  J  very  mysteriously ,  in  prison,  about  the  end 
of  1853. 

In  the  interval  that  elapsed,  between  placing 
Similien  under  arrest,  and  sending  him  to  prison, 
the  principal  chief  of  the  piquets,  Pierre  Noir  him- 
self, also,  paid  his  tribute  to  that  suspicious  des- 
potism, one  of  whose  most  frightful  instruments, 
he  had  become.  Faithful  to  his  habits  of  modesty, 
Captain  Pierre  Noir  had  obstinately  refused  the 
grade  of  General,  which  fell  to  his  lot  in  the  shower 
of  promotions,  of  which  his  band  was  the  object  in 
1848.  He  only  wanted  the  emoluments  of  it  ;  and 
yet,  feeling  ashamed,  to  receive,  what  he  could  take, 
levied  these  emoluments  himself  on  the  public  ; 
attacking  the  foreigners  by  ^oreference.  Our  consul- 
general  was  worn  out,  asking  reparations, — always 
heard,  but  always  to  be  renewed.  At  length,  losing 
patience,  M.  Raybaud  summoned  the  Government, 
once  for  all^  to  deprive  Pierre  Noir  of  the  possibili- 
ty of  harm  ;  adding  that  the  deference  it  used,  to- 
wards this  abominable  wretch,  induced  the  belief, 
that  the  President  was,  really  afraid  of  him  ;  and 
therefore,  he  boasted  of  it.  Soulouque,  who_,  for 
six  months,  had  shed  human  blood,  in  streams,  to 
prove  that  he  possessed  character  was,  you  may  well 
imagine,  very  sensitive  to  this  suspicion  of  cow- 
ardice. A  courier  immediately  took  the  order  to 
Pierre  Noir,  to  report  himself  at  Port-au-Prince. 

Judging  that  this  trip  would  be  injurious  to  his 
health,  Pierre  Noir  took  care  not  to  obey,  and  he 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  209 

called  together  the  whole  body  of  the  piquets; — but 
measures  had  been  so  well  taken,  that  before  he 
could  assemble  his  band,  he  was  arrested,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cayes.  When  he  was  led  out  to  be  shot, 
with  two  of  liis  lieutenants,  the  bandit  offered  to 
make  the  officer,  commanding  the  escort,  his  prime 
minister,  if  he  would  allow  him  to  escape  ;  and, 
what  is  rare  in  Hayti,  tlie  officer  refused,  although 
Pierre  Noir  was  perfectly  able  to  keep  his  word,  if 
the  case  had  happened.  In  demanding  justice,  only, 
of  a  simple  cut-throat,  M.  Eaybaud  had,  in  fact, 
disembarrassed  Soulouque  of  a  conspirator,  much 
more  dangerous  than  Similien.  It  was  proved,  that 
the  modest  Pierre  Noir,  only  awaited  the  time,  when 
the  President  should  be  found  fighting  with  the 
Dominicians,  in  order  to  organise  a  small  African 
kingdom,  in  the  South,  to  the  exclusion  of  eyer?/ 
heterogeneous  element;  that  is,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  mulattoes,  who  would  have  been  massacred, 
simultaneously,  at  all  points  on  the  peninsular  ; 
and  to  the  exclusion  of  the  whites,  who  would  have 
been  massacred,  after  the  mulattoes,  beginning  with 
the  two  French  and  English  consular  agents.  The 
execution  of  tliis  bold  rascal,  who  reached,  after 
ten  months  of  impunity,  an  ascendency  almost 
without  limits,  diffused  through  tlie  black  populace 
of  the  South,  an  impression  of  superstitious  respect, 
with  which,  Soulouque  had  alread}^  struck  the  rob- 
bers of  Port-au-Prince.  The  j/^i'r^^^e^s  contented 
themselves,  in  manifesting  their  desolation,  by  an 


210  SOULOUQUE   and'  HIS   EMPIRE. 

extravagance  of  sorrow,  wliicli  ended  in  fatiguing 
the  President.  ^'This  has  become  too  silly/'  said 
His  Excellency,  one  morning  ;  and,  three  new  ex- 
ecutions took  place,  to  impose  silence  on  the  sobs  of 
the  brigands. 

Let  us  remark,  in  order  not  to  recur  to  it  again, 
that  after  Similien  and  the  piquets — that  is,  after 
the  military  and  the  bandit  elements  of  the  ultra- 
black  tragedies, — the  vaudoux  element  also  had  its 
turn.  Some  months  after  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
Soulouque  suffered  from  a  swelling  of  the  knee. 
The  doctor  prescribed  some  leeches  ;  and  brother 
Joseph  having  become  Colonel,  and  Baron,  con- 
curred in  the  advice  of  the  physician  ;  but  the  dis- 
tinguished patient  indicated,  his  preference,  for 
conjurations.  Either  Voltairianism  suifered,  or 
vexed  at  seeing,  for  the  first  time,  his  counsels  dis- 
regarded, brother  Joseph  had  the  imprudence  to 
say,  that  the  Emperor  would  not  recover  from  it. 
Soulouque,  who  paid  his  sorcerer,  to  dispel  bad 
presages,  and  not,  to  make  them,  gave  orders,  im- 
mediately, to  have  brother  Joseph  conducted  to  the 
dungeons  of  the  Mole-Saint-Nicholas.  His  Impe- 
rial Majesty  got  into  difficulty  then  with  a  formi- 
ble  party,  considering  the  power,  the  sorcerers  had, 
of  injuring  even  from  a  distance.  But  the  vessel, 
which  carried  the  disgraced  papa-loi  to  the  Mole, 
providentially,  capsized,  on  the  way  ;  and^  by  a 
most  remarkable  chance,  brother  Joseph  only  per- 
ished of  all  the  people  on  board  of  it. 


SOULOUQUE    AND    TIIS    EMPIRE.  21) 

111  conclusion,  a  little  good  had  already  sprung 
out  of  the  very  causes  of  so  much  evil.     The  fear 
of  being  ridiculed  about  his  vaudoux  beliefs;    the 
diseased  anxiety  of  escaping  the  suspicion  of  fee- 
bleness ; — and  finally,  tlie  fear  of  witchcraft,  Avhicli 
alone,  had  driven  Soulouque  back  into  the  ultra- 
African  party — had  become,  by  turns,  the  cause  of 
the  reactions   which  •  had  successively,  carried  off 
three  scoundrels,  who  personified  that  party.     Un- 
fortunately, much  was  wanting,  to  make  this   re- 
action systematic.  Soulounue,  so  ready  to  generalize 
his  suspicions,   and  hatreds,   with   regard  to  the 
mulattoes, — Soulouque   only  appeared  to  see  tlie 
danger  here,  in  proportion,  as  he  encountered  it ; 
imprisoning,  or  shooting  without  deliberation  the 
ultra-black  conspirators,  whom  he  detected  in  the 
act  of  ofience  ;  but,  without  leaving  his  confidence 
with  the  rest  of  the  party,  which  had  become  the 
nursery   of  the   dukes,    counts,   and  barons,  who, 
now  pufi'ed  up  the  powerful  Empire  of  Faustin.    It 
is  true,  there  was  about  Soulouque  an  emulation  of 
hatred  or  fear,  to  flatter  his  prejudices  against  the 
oppressed  class,  whilst  the  ultra-black  party  found 
itself  protected,  by  him,  because  of  the  very  excess 
of  these  prejudices. 

How  could  he  oppose  hostilely  the  piquets,  with- 
out declaring  himself,  more  or  less,  the  friend  of 
their  victims?  Not  one  of  the  seven,  or  eight_, 
honorable  men,  who  remained  in  the  entourage  oi 
Soulouque^  dared  to  hazard  such  an  interpretation. 


-il2  SOULOIIQUE  '  AND    IITS   EMriRE. 

In  the  iiieaiitiiiio,  tlie  piquets,  tuul  tlicir  I'riends, 
continued,  hy  force  of  the  powers,  with  which ,  they 
were  invested,  the  system  of  terror  tliey  had  exer- 
cised, in  1848,  on  the  great  high-ways.  Either, 
hecause  of  an  enthusiasm  of  gratitude  to  the  man, 
witliout  whom,  they  would  he,  again,  reduced  to 
steal  sugar-cane,  or  heg — or,  because  the  greater 
part  of  them  did  not  feel  their  consciences  very 
clear,  with  respect  to  the  conspiracy,  which  cost 
Pierre  Noir  his  life — all  these  strange  Generals, 
took  pains,  to  prove  devotion,  after  their  fLishion  ; 
that  is,  by  discovering  in  every  hourgeois  a  suspici- 
ous person.  Under  the  influence  of  these  beset- 
ments,  which  no  one  could  resist^  the  impulses  of 
savage  distrust,  which  Soulouque,  sometimes,  re- 
vealed against  the  real  suspects,  resumed  their 
first  direction.  The  prisons,  and  dungeons,  gave 
up  none  of  their  captives,  except  those  that  disease 
or  starvation  delivered  ;  and,  if  the  arrests  and 
executions  had  become  more  rare,  it  was  because 
the  material  began  to  be  exhausted. 

The  influence  of  the  consuls  only  could  reach  this 
matter  ;  and  occasions  were  not  wanting  for  its  ex- 
ercise. Hatred  of  the  mulattoes  being  in  some  sort, 
wdth  the  drunken  rabble  of  the  place,  but  a  shadow- 
ing of  its  hatred  for  the  whites,  there  w^as  no  kind 
of  insults  and  exactions,  which  they  spared  the 
latter.  One  day,  some  Europeans,  (and  our  consu- 
lar agent  of  Cayes  was  of  the  number)  were  in- 
sulted, and  struck,  at  the  conclusion  of  a  hearing. 


SOULOUQUi:   AND   HIS   EMPIllE.  213 

by  a  justice  of  tlic  peace,  before  wbom  they  bad 
been  summoned,  as  witnesses  ;  and  the  local  au- 
tborities  brutally,  refused  them  any  protection. 
Anotlier  day,  a  trap  was  set,  for  some  captains  of 
vessels,  ready  to  sail,  in  order  to  catch  them  in  the 
very  act  of  smuggling  ;  and  the  snare  not  having 
succeeded,  the  authorities,  notwithstanding,  de- 
tained the  vessels,  offering,  (verbally,  to  be  sure,) 
to  spare  the  captains,  upon  being  paid,  the  ruinous 
delays  which  would  follow  a  judicial  enquiry. 
Upon  the  slightest  pretext,  the  foreign  merchants 
were  arrested,  and  carried  before  the  tribunals. 
Here  is  an  example  of  these  pretexts  : 

In  1850,  a  young  black,  fifteen  years  old,  work- 
ing on  a  plantation,  took  it  into  his  head  to  poison 
a  Frenchman  for  pastime,  who  superintended  the 
estate.  He  introduced  into  the  earthen  bottle, 
from  which  he  was  accustomed  to  drink,  some 
bamboo  down  and  rose-apple  roots.  Scarcely  had 
the  Frenchman  drank  of  this  beverage,  than  he 
regarded,  with  suspicion,  the  young  black  who  had 
presented  it  to  him.  The  latter  fled  at  full  speed  ; 
was  apprehended,  and  taken  before  the  commander 
of  the  place,  at  Cayes.  He  confessed,  that  he  really 
designed  to  poison  the  Frenchman;  but  he  did  so, 
because  this  white  man  had  made  seditious  motions 
against  the  government.  The  startling  political 
precocity  of  this  young  drole,  extorted  a  smile  of 
approbation,  from  the  representative  of  authority. 
He    sent   for   the   Frenchman,    and    after  having 


214  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

grossly  insulted  liim,  had  him  cast  into  a  dungeon, 
for  trial.  This  commander  is  a  drunkard,  named 
Sanon,  who,  a  short  time  ago,  was  a  trumpeter ; 
hut  now,  is  Count  de  Port-a-Piment. 

The  commander  of  the  province,  an  old  chief  of 
^nquets,  Jean  Claude,  alias  Duke  des  Cayes,  had 
had  incarcerated,  some  days  hefore  that,  for  reasons 
quite  as  curious^  another  Frenchman,  who  was  a 
peaceable  merchant^  and  had  been  established,  for 
thirt}^  years,  in  the  country.  A  caj^tain,  out  of 
service,  who  happened  to  be  discharged  by  this  mer- 
chant for  whom  he  had  worked,  as  a  day  laborer,  had 
him  accused  of  saying :  ' '  That  there  were  too  many 
Generals  in  the  country,  and  not  enough  laborers  on 
the  cc'ffee  plantations."  It  was  proved,  by  the 
declaration  of  the  witnesses  to  the  charge,  them- 
selves, that  only  half  of  this  innocent  speech  had 
been  given  ;  and,  that  the  informer  had  made,  on 
the  contrary,  the  following  proposition,  which  was 
much  less  innocent :  ''  That  unless  things  changed^ 
they  would  kill  all  the  whites."  The  Frenchman 
was  nevertheless  condemned  ;  for  in  such  cases, 
Monseigneur,  the  Duke  des  Cayes  had  the  hall  of 
audience  surrounded  by  an  armed  force  ;  and  this 
means  never  failed,  of  its  effect,  on  the  tribunal. 
When  a  foreigner  is  rescued,  from  these  trials,  by 
the  intervention  of  his  consul,  it  is  not  without 
difficulties.  The  head  of  the  first  English  house,  at 
Cayes  had  a  sad  experience  of  it,  one  evening. 
The  unhappy  Englishman,  reached  his  dwelling 
sumo  minutes  alter  the  hour,  wliich  it  pleased  this 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  215 

terrible  Duke,  liis  persecutor,  that  every  one  should 
he  at  home  ;  he  was  apprehended,  bodily,  by  a  pa- 
trol_,  who  had  waited  for  him,  at  the  very  door  of 
the  house,  where  he  had  spent  the  evening,  and 
took  him  to  tlie  guard-house,  kicking  and  beating 
him  with  a  cane  on  tlie  way.  He  passed  the  night, 
there,  in  company  Avith  thieves,  and  vagabonds, 
insulted  and  abused  till  morning. 

The  foreign  military  marine,  itself,  is  not  exempt 
from  such  insults.  Near  the  end  of  1849,  some 
officers,  of  an  English  steamer  which  had  anchored 
at  Cayes,  were  making  some  hydrographic  obser- 
vations on  the  sea-beach.  They  were  arrested,  by 
the  guard,  and  conducted  with  extreme  brutality, 
iu  the  midst  of  the  hootings  of  the  populace,  to 
the  inevitable  Duke,  Jean  Claude,  who  received 
them  with  every  possible  obscenity.  He,  how- 
ever, consented  to  release  the  captives  ;*  but,  not 


*  The  commander  of  the  English  steamer,  who  had,  himself,  been 
treated  with  extreme  insolence  by  General  Jean-Claude,  sailed  after 
complaining  of  his  consular  agent,  who  was  content  with  a  hack- 
neyed expression  of  regrets,  without  requiring  the  punishment  of 
the  guilty  parties.  The  English  consulate  took  an  honorable  re- 
Tengc,  a  short  time  afterwards,  by  exacting  from  Soulouque  the 
pardon  of  an  architect  condemned  to  death ;  who  was  unfortunatehj, 
executed  nevertheless.  The  vice-consul  bitterly  complained  of  this  to 
Soulouque  ;  who  ascribed  it  to  some  administrative  mistake.  And, 
for  the  purpose  of  quieting  the  consul,  surrendered  to  him  an  old 
General,  who  was  dying  in  prison — adding  that,  as  a  General  was 
of  much  more  consequence  than  an  architect,  the  vice-consul  should 
regard  this  last  favor  as  so  much  the  more  precious  than  the  first.  It 
is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that  Soulouque  demanded  money  of  hi3 
General,  in  order  to  make  the  comi»ensation  exact. 


216  SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

without  first  having  turned,  over  and  over,  in  his 
hands,  with  suspicious  attention,  a  harometer, 
which  he  had  taken  from  them — adding,  that  they 
did  not  carry  quick-silver  in  a  glass  tuhe  for  no- 
tliing  ;  and,  that  this  ver}^  quicksilver,  was  con- 
clusive proof,  that  these  Messieurs  came  to  search 
for  hidden  treasures.  I  do  not  answer  for  it,  tliat 
Monseigneur,  the  Duke  des  Cayes,  did  not  operate, 
on  his  own  account,  by  digging  in  the  suspected 
place. 

A  short  time  afterwards,  the  commanders  of  two 
Spanish  ships  of  war,  which  put  into  the  bay  of 
Flamands,  were  wandering  ashore,  when  a  certain 
General,  who  by  a  double  antiphrase,  was  called, 
M.    de    Ladouceur,    Comte   de   VAsile,    had   them 
seized,  bodily,  and  required  that  one  of  the  com- 
manders should  remain  as  a  hostage.     Whilst  M. 
Raybaud,  and  our  consular  agent  at  Cayes,  nego- 
tiated   the    reparation  due  the   Spanisli  flag,  the 
crew,   of  a  third  ship  of  the  same  nation,    went 
ashore  to  get  some  provisions,  at  I'Arcahaye,  and 
were  received,  on  landing,  with  such  hostile  de- 
monstrations, that  they  were  obliged  to  return  to 
sea,  leaving  the  ensign  in  command^  a  prisoner. 
The  next  day,  the  captain  landed  alone,  and  had 
himself  conducted  to  the  commanding  General  of 
the  subdivision,  before  whom  he  demanded,  ener- 
getically, the'respect  due  to  Spanish  sailors.     At 
this  word,  Spanisli,  the  General,  divided  between 
anger  and  stupidity,  spoke   of  nothing  less,  than 


SOULOTIQUE  AND  HIS  KMPTRK.  217 

having  the  amUicioiiK  rebels  sliot,  inimetliatoly. 
This  qui-j^ro-qico,  which  woiihl  have  gone  beyond 
the  bounds  of  comedy  was,  finally,  cleared  up. 
The  captain  proved,  by  all  kinds  of  unquestiona- 
ble evidence,  that  there  were  other  Spaniards, 
in  the  world,  besides  those  of  the  Dominican  part 
of  it.  The  General  was  shaken,  but  not  convinced ; 
and,  in  order  to  relieve  his  responsibility,  he  sent 
the  ensign  to  Port-au-Prince,  where  he  arrived  on 
foot,  escorted  like  a  malefactor — and,  after  having 
been  insulted,  along  the  whole  route,  with  the  epi- 
thets oi  pirate  and  spy.  At  Port-au-Prince,  the 
fact  of  Spain's  existence  Avas  readily  admitted  ; 
and  a  third  reparation  was  added  to  the  two  already 
demanded. 

At  every  difficulty  of  this  kind,  which  the  ex- 
incpiets  tlirew  on  his  hands,  Soulouque  exhibited 
according  to  circumstances,  contrariness,  irrita- 
bility, or  consternation.  His  grief  being  well  es- 
tablished, he  hastened  to  acknowledge  it ;  if  neces- 
sary, he  had  the  subaltern  agents  of  this  system  of 
exaction,  and  outrage  arrested  ;  he  even  compelled, 
in  grave  cases_,  the  principal  representatives  of  au- 
thority to  frame  jiublic  excuses,  with  accompani- 
ments of  salvos  of  artillery,  and  a  general  illumi- 
nation ;  but  this  was  all. 

Jeane  Claude  and  his  associates  were  not  spar- 
ing, either  in  excuses,  powder,  or  lamps  ;  but,  some 
days  afterwards,  they  recommenced  their  outrages, 
sure   of  the    obstinate    indulgence    of  Soulouque, 


218  SOULOUQUD    AND    TITS   EMPTRK. 

though  it  cost  his  vanit}^  the  most  cruel  discomforts, 
for  all  crimes  which  appeared  to  be  an  excess  of 
devotion  and  zeal. 

We   regret  to   say,  the  Britisli  consulate  as  if 
it  sought  to  create  for  itself  a  claim,  hy  contrast,  on 
the  Haytien  Government,  did  not  always  second, 
as  much  as  was  in  its  power,  the  energetic  persis- 
tence that  our  agent   put  in   operation,  to   obtain 
reparations  which  concerned  it,  against  this  weak 
side  of  the  black  chief.     The  English  sailors,  and 
residents,  often  complained  of  certain  unseasonable 
conduct ;  and  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
Foreign  Office,  itself,  might,  for  once,  regard  fa- 
vorably, the  departure  of  its  agents  from  this  see- 
saw system,  which  is  the  classic  proceeding  of  the 
English    chancery  in   Hayti.     As   to   the   French 
Government,  it  expresses  itself  on  the  wrongs,  oc- 
curring to  our  countrymen,  without  ceasing  ;  and 
in   terms,  which  shows  its  intention  of  stopping 
them,  by  putting  an  end  to  it,  once  for  all.'     The 
most  efficacious  method  of  repression — that  which 
has  always  succeeded  with  M.  Raybaud,  is  to  take 
the  Haytien  Government  on  its  weak  side,  money ; 
and  to  exact,  for  every  wrong  committed  against 
European  residents,  not  only,  reparation  for  their 
material  losses,  but,  also,  costs  and  damages^  as 
compensation  for  the  impositions  suffered  by  them. 
This  is  nothinc^  but  common  riG:ht. 

If  these  means  are  insufficient — if  Faustin  1st 
prefers  to  pay,  every  day,  compensation  for  injuries, 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   ExMPIRE.  219 

rather  than  get  rid  of  these  strange  favorites, — 
we  do  not  see  why,  France  and  England  should 
hesitate,  to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  exact, 
imperatively,  the  submission,  en  masse,  of  these 
official  bandits,  to  whom  Soulouque  has  surrendered 
the  whole  province  of  tlie  South.  This  would  still 
not  be  going  beyond  common  right ;  because,  all 
reparation  implies,  on  the  part  of  the  2)erson  grant- 
ing it,  the  undertaking  to  prevent,  within  the  limit 
of  his  j)ower,  the  repetition  of  the  wrong  repaired. 
But  it  is  proved  that  the  belaced  canaille^  which  he 
has  to  deal  with  there,  is  incorrigible  ;  and  it  is, 
equally,  beyond  doubt^  that  in  order,  to  bring  to  rea- 
son, if  necessary,  those  of  the  disgraced^:)igwe^s,  who 
would  renew  the  undertakings  of  the  late  Pierre 
Noir,  Soulouque  would  not  have  to  expend  a  hun- 
dreth  part  of  tlie  brutal  energy^  which  he  has 
gratuitously  displayed  against  their  victims.  In- 
deed, it  is  high,  to  estimate  at  a  thousand  scattered 
over  the  whole  country,  the  entire  body  of  these 
scoundrels  ;  who  pretend  to  isolate,  from  the  white 
race,  a  country,  whose  only  resource  is  its  foreign 
commerce  ;  who,  retain,  by  their  influence,  in  the 
l)risons  or  in  exile,  the  class  which  serves  as  inter- 
mediaries to  this  commerce  ;  and  who  feed  an  in- 
creasing lire  of  hatred,  savagery  and  disorder,  in 
the  bosom  of  a  people,  the  most  slothful,  I  am  con- 
vinced, but  the  most  inoffensiv^e,  hospitable  and 
governable  in  the  world. 


XII. 

Victories  and  conquests  of  Soulouquc.     A  sorcery  trial .     The  Em- 
pire and  the  Imperial  Court. 

Let  US  take  up  the  order  of  events,  by  Avhicli, 
Hayti  progressed  to  the  era  of  tlie  Faiistins. 

Soulouque,  one  day,  asked  liow  Napoleon  had  ar- 
rived at  Empire.  They  replied,  that  it  was  by 
gaining  the  battle  of  Marengo  ;  and  the  black 
chief,  who  prided  himself,  as  we  have  seen,  npon 
following  our  fashions,  wished  also  to  have  his 
Marengo.  The  Dominicans — tliose  mulatto  rebels^ 
as  he  styled  them — must  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
thing.  It  would  be  a  double  blow  ;  for,  on  the 
same  occasion,  Soulouque  would  succeed,  in  getting 
rid  of  the  mulattoes  who  were  not  rebels,  the  lar- 
gest possible  number  of  whom,  he  had  had  enrolled, 
with  the  intention,  of  exposing  them  to  the  first 
fire.  For  the  six  years  that  the  Spanish  portion 
of  the  Island  had  been  declared  independent,  these 
expeditions  had  been  the  signals  of  conspiracies 
and  Haytien  revolutions  ;  but  Soulouque  had  taken 
good  care  of  this,  by  always  taking  with  him,  as 
hostages,  the  innumerable  Generals,  whom  he  sus- 
pected of  looking  more  or  less  to  the  succession. 
As  to  Similien  and  the  piqiLcts^  as  I  have  said,  the 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  221 

first  remained  under  arrest^  subject  to  the  surveil- 
lance of  the  new  favorite  Bellegarde — and  the 
second^  taken  unawares  by  the  violent  death  of 
their  chief,  only,  dreamed  of  watering,  the  grave 
of  the  late  Pierre  Noir,  with  rum  and  silent  tears. 

This  war  was,  profoundly,  distasteful  to  nine- 
tenths  of  the  Haytiens  ;  and  the  possibility,  of  a 
Dominican  ball  cutting  short  the  august  days  of 
Soulouque,  was  not  of  such  a  nature,  as  to  bring 
desolation  among  the  innumerable  families,  about 
to  be  decimated.  Never,  however, — never  did  more 
sincere  and  ardent  hopes  of  success,  accompany  an 
enterprise.  The  idea,  that  Soulouque  might  re- 
turn beaten,  and  a  prey  to  exasperation,  alone, 
caused  the  bourgeoisie,  black  and  yellow,  especially 
the  last,  a  real  agony  of  terror.  The  first  news  of 
the  expedition^  happily,  somewhat  calmed  these 
apprehensions.  The  19th  of  March,  1849,  the 
Dominicans,  having  been  driven  out  of  Las-Matas, 
by  a  corps,  which  left  the  Cap,  with  the  President 
at  their  head,  lost  their  artillery  :  and  the  next 
day,  Soulouque,  proudly,  encamped  at  Saint-Jean, 
an  almost  central  point  of  the  Island. 

As  it  had  not  been  ever  before  thought  of,  Sou- 
louque, after  reaching  this  point  discovered,  that  he 
had  set  out  on  his  expedition  without  provisions. 
He  soon  after  found  there  were  some  at  Azua, 
which  had  been  evacuated  without  resistance,  by 
four  thousand  Dominicans,  commanded  in  person 
by  President  Jimenez ;  but.  he  committed  the 
10 


222  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

blunder^  of  consuming  these  supplies  on  the  spot, 
awaiting,  for  an  entire  week,  submissions  Avhich 
did  not  take  place.  Driven  from  Azua  by  famine, 
the  black  army,  however,  succeeded  in  reaching, 
after  many  other  unexpected  successes,  the  river 
Ocoa — distant,  about  twenty  leagues,  from  the 
Dominican  capital.  This  unhappy  little  people 
^vere  lost,  without  help.  The  wealthy  families  of 
Saint-Domingo  embarked,  hastily  ;  and  congress, 
seeing  the  impossibility  of  any  defence,  were  about 
to  hoist  over  it  the  Frencli  flag. 

All  this  was  known,  day  after  day,  at  Port-au- 
Prince  ;  and  the  entire  population  were,  literally, 
about  to  prepare  the  triumphal  procession,  w^hicli 
was  due  to  the  conqueror  of  Saint-Domingo,  when 
suddenly,  on  the  30th  of  April,  a  sinister  report 
circulated  through  the  city.  From  the  vicinity  of 
Bani,  the  Haytien  army,  abruptly,  fell  back  to 
Saint-Jean,  passing  over  this  distance  of  forty-five 
leagues,  in  less  than  four  days.  Wliilst  the  Hay- 
tiens  slept,  in  the  pleasures  of  Azua,  the  Domini- 
cans had  had  time  to  summon  to  their  aid  Santana, 
who  had  withdrawn,  for  a  time,  from  state-aff'airs  ; 
and  Santana  gave  a  new  proof  of  character  to  his 
admirer,  Soulouque,  by  completely  beating  him  in 
two  engagements,  which  cost  the  Haytiens  six 
pieces  of  cannon,  two  flags,  three  hundred  horses, 
more  than  a  thousand  guns,  a  quantity  of  baggage, 
and  hundreds  of  slain,  several  Generals  among  the 
number.     Santana,  then,  drove  back  the  Haytien 


SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  223 

army  towards  the  sea-board,  where  it  was,  cruelly, 
cannonaded  with  grape  shot,  by  the  Dominican 
fleet,  posted  there  to  intercept  it. 
1  The  causes  of  a  defeat,  so  unexpected,  remained  to 
be  explained.  To  attribute  it  to  the  improvidence 
of  the  President,  was  to  sport  with  one's  head  ; 
but  the  hougeois,  remembering,  opportunely,  that 
France  had  served  them  for  forty  years,  as  a  shield  in 
every  instance  in  whicli  they  had  reason  to  fear, 
some  out-burst  of  the  fury  of  the  ultra-black  party 
— the  bourgeois  hastened  to  set  down,  this  defeat, 
to  our  account.  Although  the  consul-general  of 
France  had  spared  no  means  for  a  year  past,  of  di- 
verting Soulouquefrom  his  conquering  flincies,  they 
suddenl}^  discovered  that  the  counsels,  prayers, 
and  importunities  of  M.  Raybaud  had,  only,  pushed 
the  President  into  an  enterprise,  for  which  he  was 
not  yet  prepared.  Tlie  perfidious  M.  Raybaud 
knew,  in  advance,  that  he  sent  liim  to  a  cut-throat 
place  ;  because,  the  pretended  Dominican  fleet  was 
neither  more  nor  less  than  two — then  seven — after- 
wards fourteen — and  finally  nineteen  French  ships 
of  war.  Messieurs,  the  mulattoes,  who,  with  nearly 
five  or  six  exceptions,  thought  themselves  obliged 
to  cry  louder  than  any  others,  discovered  this 
figure  of  nineteen  ships ;  two  of  which,  especially — 
the  Ndiacle  and  Tonnerre — which  had  been  absent 
from  that  station  for  many  years,  had  powerfully 
contributed,  in  their  opinion^  to  the  success  of  the 
ambuscade.     The  mulattoes,  also,  discovered  that 


224  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

M.  Raj^iaud,  who  was  only  the  clay  before  tlieir 
idol,  had  added  to  his  wrongs  that  of  sending  to 
the  enemy,  Soulouque's  plan  of  campaign,  which 
had  been,  apparentl}^,  confided  to  him.  The  black 
authorities  concluded  by  accepting  literally  this 
romance,  in  which,  alas  !  fear  held  the  pen.  Our 
countrymen  w^ere  the  subject  of  menaces.  The 
city  was  over-run,  in  every  sense,  by  orderlies  on 
horseback ;  and  the  forts  were  armed,  for  the  purpose 
of  sinking  our  stationary  Corvette,  which  they  sup-^ 
j)Osed  was  making  preparations^  on  its  part,  to 
bombard  the  city. 

M.  Raybaud,  whose  nerves  were  tolerabl}^  well 
inured,  seemed  very  little  moved  by  all  this  bluster. 
However,  lie  had,  already,  taken  some  proper  mea- 
sures to  protect  our  countrymen,  when  two  procla- 
mations suddenly  appeared,  restoring  to  order  the 
enthusiasm  and  joy  of  the  day  ;  and,  by  giving 
it  another  direction  redoubled  the  inquietudes  of 
the  unfortunate  bourgeois,  who,  by  too  great  zeal 
in  manifesting  their  gallopJiobia  on  this  occasion, 
had  made  themselves  the  heralds  of  a  defeat,  which 
was  henceforth  to  be  disclaimed.  In  one  of  these 
proclamations,  the  President  said  : — 

*'  Soldiers !  from  triumph  to  triumph,  you  reached 
even  to  the  banks  of  the  river  Ocoa.  You  occupied, 
at  that  place,  a  position,  whose  advantages  justi- 
fied me  in  leading  you  further  ;  hut  I  did  not  tliinh 
proper  to  abuse  your  courage.  .  .  .  Having  reached 
your  firesides,  you  will  have  much  to  tell  those, 


SOULOUQUli;   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  225 

wlio  were  not  present  on  these  battle-fields,  wliicli 
recalled  tlie  glories  of  our  ancesters.  .  .  Soldiers  ! 
I  am  content  with  you  ! ' ' 

In  another  proclamation,  addressed  to  the  people 
and  the  army,  Soulouque,  after  having  enumerated 
his  triumphs,  adds  : — 

^^  But  entirely  favorable  as  may  have  been  these 
circumstances,  wisdom  recommended  me  to  return 

to   the   capital The   Government   tvishes, 

stilly  to  allow  its  loaiidering  sons  time  for  reflection 
and  repentance.'' 

It  remains  to  be  said,  that  the  garlands  of  palms 
and  leaves,  which  were  thrown  aside  for  a  short 
time,  the  next  day  decorated  the  houses  along  the 
vQute  of  the  magnanimous  ^^  Conqueror  of  the 
East,"  wlio  returned  to  the  city,  amid  the  noise  of 
prolonged  salvos  of  artillery  ;  and  this  intrepid 
gasconnade  was  completed,  by  having  a  Te  Deuni 
chanted  for  his  successes.  Arrests  and  executions 
were  then  expected.  In  the  interval,  the  parents 
and  friends  of  tlie  suspects,  were  very  much  em- 
barrassed wliat  kind  of  countenances  to  assume — 
fearing  at  the  same  time,  if  they  appeared  sad,  to 
seem  to  insult  the  official  py — and  if  they  affected 
joy,  to  seem  to  offend  their  actual  griefs.  Sou- 
louque,  moreover,  neglected  nothing,  on  his  part, 
to  give  the  diapason  to  public  opinion.  Every  re- 
ception, at  the  palace,  was  marked  by  scenes  like 
the  following — only  the  substance  of  which  can  be 
reproduced — because,  of  the  impossibility  of  ex- 


226  SOULOUQUE   AND    IIIS   EMPIRE. 

hibiting,  on  paper,  the  embellishments  of  Creole 
antics  and  rhetoric. 

After  having  testified  his  displeasure  at  the 
ridiculous  reports,  which  had  been  circulated,  about 
the  pretended  interference  of  a  French  squadron, 
Soulouque  repeated  to  the  civil  and  military  nota- 
bilities, Avho  listened  to  him,  with  eager  attention, 
trembling  painfully  to  catch  the  minutest  detail  of 
the  presidential  version — Soulouque  repeated,  I  say, 
that  he  had  not,  by  any  means,  intended  to  engage 
in  a  final  expedition.  The  occasion,  the  tender 
grass,  and  the  surprising  triumphs,  which  marked 
each  of  his  steps,  on  the  Dominican  territory,  had 
alone  led  him  on,  and  in  his  own  defence,  up  to 
the  gates  of  Santo-Domingo.  But,  the  rebels  of 
the  East  finding  themselves  plunged  into  the  most 
frightful  wretchedness,  since  they  had  renounced 
the  benefits  of  national  unity,  their  own  soldiers 
having  nothing  for  several  days,  to  subsist  upon 
except  an  ear  of  corn,  divided  between  four  men — 
this  had  decided  him  to  postpone  a  conquest,  al- 
ready, accomplished  in  fact. 

^'And  who  would  believe" — exclaimed  the 
President — ''  that  this  glorious  expedition  has  only 
cost  the  Haytien  army  ?ihontf/ty  slain  f' 

An  Interrupter. — "  Forty-eight,  M.  President !" 

Soulouque. — ^'  Let  it  go  for  forty-eight.  .  .  In 
retaliation,  this  magnificent  campaign,  which  only 
cost  us  the  death  of  forty  braves,  has  left  cruel 
souvenirs  to   the   rebels.     They  lost  so  many  of 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  227 

their  people,  that  they  were  incommoded, /or  ma^2/ 
leagues,  ivitJi  the  stench  of  their  cotyses.  Is  it  not 
a  fact  that  they  were  incommoded  hy  it?" 

The  Generals. — '^  Yes,  President,"  (with  a  gen- 
eral contraction  of  their  nostriLs,  as  though  they 
smelt  something  bad.  A  future  duke,  even,  made  a 
show  of  seeking  for  an  absent  pocket-handkerchief.) 

Soulouque  {smiling.) — ''It  was  not  their  fault; 
for,  these  cowardly  rascals  little  dreamed,  of  find- 
ing me  in  command.  How  they  run,  the  iDOor 
devils  !  how  they  run  !  .  .  Apropos  ;  have  we  not 
heard  of  a  pretended  cannonade  that  the  fleet  of 
the  rebels  would  have  given  us  on  the  way  ?  .  .  . 
(Knitting  his  brows) — I  will  be  curious  to  know, 
whether  it  is  not  the  mulattoes  here,  who  have 
put  this  report  in  circulation." 

A  General  (of  the  last  promotion.) — ' '  Yes !  Presi- 
dent." 

Soulouque. — ''  I  think  I  will  decide,  after  all,  to 
give  a  lesson  to  these  Messieurs,  the  mulattoes. 
They  have  spoken,  also,  of  abandoned  cannon.  .  .  ." 

Numerous  voices. — "  No,  Mr.  President,  you  did 
not  abandon  any  cannon  !" 

Soulouque  (dryly.) — ''You  are  deceived  about 
that  ;  I  did  abandon  a  few  of  them;  and  I  know 
w^hy  I  did  it.  Since  we  are  going  to  occupy,  defi- 
nitely, the  insurgent  territory,  in  six  months — are 
we  not  certain  of  recovering  them?" 

At  this  announcement  of  a  new  campaign,  which 
they  were  sick  of  at  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  the 


228  SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

Generals,  one  after  the  other,  came  forward,  and 
solicited  the  favor  of  the  President,  to  be  made  part 
of  it.  ^'Yes,"  said  the  President,  becoming  excited, 
by  degrees — ''you,   and  all  the  others — old  and 

young — all  those  in  a  condition  to  march 

the  pi'gi^e^s  also  !  I  will  put  forth,  if  necessarj^, 
all  my  resources.  Even  my  existence  ;  for  I  swear 
to  subjugate  the  rebels.  We  must  not  leave  among 
them,  either  a  chicken  or  a  cat  alive.  I  will  pursue 
them  to  the  depths  of  their  forests — and  even  to  the 
top  of  the  CihaOj^  without  pity,  as  though  they 
were  tvild  hogs  I"  A  general  chorus — ^^  Like  ivilcl 
hogs!'' 

A  violent  hiccough  of  anger,  habitually,  inter- 
rujDted  these  explosions  of  His  Excellency,  whose 
eyes  became  always  blood-shot,  and  his  lips  ashy. 
The  President  only  recovered  a  little  serenity,  by 
narrating  the  injuries,  he  had  had  time  to  inflict  on 
the  Dominicans,  in  his  retreat — to  wit :  the  burn- 
ing of  Azua, — of  all  the  dwellings  and  distilleries 
within  a  radius  of  two  leagues, — the  wood-yards  of 
mahogany,  and  the  fields  of  sugar-cane  ;  the  des- 
truction of  Saint- Jean,  of  Las-Matas,  and,  finally, 
of  all  the  hananaries. 

It  remained  to  be  seen,  what  victims  w^ould  pay 
the  expenses  of  this  victory  by  the  Dominicans  ; 
for  there  was  no  doubt,  but  some  blood  was  still 
necessary   to   appease    this   thirst   of    vengeance. 

*  The  name  of  a  chain  of  very  high  mountains. 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  229 

Brotlier  Joseph  was  charged  to  settle,  in  this  re- 
spect the  hesitations  of  the  President ;  who,  ainong 
the  five  or  six  hundred  prisoners,  confined  in  the 
prison  and  dungeons  of  Port-au-Prince,  experienced 
some  emharrassment  of  choice. 

A  friend  of  one  of  these  prisoners  fancied,  that, 
in  order  to  save  him,  he  would  employ  the  immense 
influence,  which  brother  Josepli  still  enjoyed  with 
the  President.  He  therefore  sought  out  the  sorce- 
rer, and,  playing  the  part  of  believing,  supplicated 
him  to  use,  his  well-known  influence  over  the  god, 
Vmidoux,  in  favor  of  the  prisoner.  Brother  Joseph 
replied,  that,  in  fact,  the  serpent  had  some  favors 
for  him  ;  that  he  would  promise  to  supplicate  it, 
and  what  is  more,  gratuitously  ;  but,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  helping  the  conjuration,  some  wax-tapers, 
neuvaines,  and  masses,  were,  indispensably  neces- 
sary, and  all  these  cost  ^' money — a  great  deal  of 
money.''  This  was  the  reply  his  questioner  expect- 
ed ;  and  a  sufliciently  round  sum  was  given  to  the 
sorcerer,  who,  being  suddenly  illumined  by  a  mag- 
nificent idea,  replied  in  that  soft  tone,  habitual  to 
him :  ^  ^  My  God !  it  costs  no  more  to  pray  for  a  hun- 
dred, or  a  thousand,  than  for  one  ;  and,  if  they 
will  furnish  me  the  means  for  it,  I  will  deliver  all 
the  other  prisoners,  at  the  same  time  with  3Iasson" 
— the  name  of  the  prisoner  for  whom  he  acted. 

Masson,  being  informed  of  this  offer,  hastened  to 
communicate  it  to  his  numerous  companions  in 
captivity,  who,  for  the  most  part,  eagerly  accepted 


230  SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS  EMPIRE. 

it.  It  was,  indeed,  holding  out  the  hope,  that,  in 
order  to  sustain  his  reputation  for  witchcraft,  hrother 
Joseph  woukl  attempt  a  secret  measure  with  Sou- 
louque.  These  prisoners,  having  put  together  all 
their  resources,  in  money  or  in  kind,  (General  Des- 
maret,  among  others,  gave  his  epaulettes)  succeed- 
ed, with  the  aid  of  their  friends  outside,  in  collect- 
ing a  value  of  about  two  thousand  gourdes  ;  which 
brother  Joseph  pocketed,  recommending  it  to  be 
kept  secret.  Some  few  of  the  prisoners,  on  the 
contrary,  had  the  imprudence,  to  refuse  any  encour- 
agement to  the  mockeries  of  this  scoundrel.  The 
sorcerer  proposed  a  discount  to  them  ;  and,  in  order 
not  to  be  disappointed  in  it,  even  offered,  finally, 
to  be  satisfied  with  a  simple  formality,  which  con- 
sisted in  wearing,  a  collar  of  a  certain  form,  upon 
their  necks.  They  sent  him  to  the  devil ;  and 
brother  Joseph  swore  to  send  them  to  the  execu- 
tioner. 

The  sorcerer,  then,  returned  to  the  palace  with 
the  two-fold  intention — of  denouncing  the  few  pris- 
oners from  whom  he  could  not  extort  money,  as 
having  ofiered  to  pay  him,  to  work  witchcraft  against 
the  President, — and,  of  demanding,  on  the  contra- 
ry, the  liberty  of  those,  who  had  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  extorted,  with  a  good  grace.  But,  on 
the  way,  brother  Joseph  reflected,  that  the  first 
part  of  his  request,  only,  had  any  chance  of  suc- 
cess ;  and,  calculating,  that  the  cheated  prisoners 
might  ask  him  to  return  their  money,  after  the  fail- 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  231 

ure  of  the  second  request-or,  at  least,  treat  him 
as  a  swindler,  which  might  injure  his  consideration 
as  a  prophet— he  said  to  himself,  the  shortest  way, 
with  them,  was  to  shut  their  mouths.     Therefore, 
he  denounced,  in  the  same  charge,  hoth,  the  pris- 
oners who  had  disregarded  his  vaudoux  influence, 
and  some  of  those  who  happened  to  pay  trihute  to 
this  influence  ;  certain  that  the  other  subscribers 
to  this  salvage  to  crime,  would  see  in  him  a  counsel 
eloquent  by  discretion.*    Let  us  say,  however,  that 
moved  by  a  scruple  of  delicacy,  he  accused  those 
prisoners,  who  had  paid  him,-and  whom  he  only 
denounced  because  of  the  necessity  of  his  position, 
—much  less  than  those,  of  whom  he  had  reason 

to  complain. 

Among  these  last— that  is,  among  the  mcredu- 
lous,-was  General  Celigny  Ardouin,  who  had  lam 
in  chains,  for  the  past  fifteen  months,  in  the  dun- 
creon  where  he  had  been  cast,  slashed  all  over  with 
sabre-cuts.  Soulouque  had  not  yet  had  him  con- 
demned ;  and  no  one  could  say  why  not,  for  he  was 
never  heard  to  pronounce  his  name,  without  tailing 
into  one  of  those  terrible  fits  of  fury,t  before  which 

*  I  am  assured,  that  some  hidden  hatred  had  indicated,  to  brother 
Joseph,  the  prisoners  he  should  denounce  in  preference;  and  that 
this  was  to  the  papa-vaudoux  another  opportunity  of  speculation, 
quite  as  lucrative  as  the  two  others. 

t  By  a  strange  fatality,  the  unfortunate  Celigny  Ardouin  had,  two 
or  three  years  before,  through  the  influence  of  his  position  as  min- 
ister saved  the  life  of  his  denouncer,  brother  Joseph,  who  was  then 


232  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

every  counsel  of  clemency  was  silent.  The  denun- 
ciation of  brother  Joseph,  therefore,  flattered,  dou- 
bly, the  superstitious  hatreds  of  Soulouque.  The 
General  was  immediately  put  upon  his  trial,  with 
nine  of  his  companions,  (July  1849).  The  only 
witness  to  the  charge  preferred  against  him  refused 
downright  to  take  the  oath  ;  giving  as  his  reason, 
that  he  was  not  satisfied  to  take  this  oath  on  the 
crucifix.  The  judges  did  not  pause,  at  this  circum- 
stance ;  but  the  statement  of  the  grounds  for  the 
sentence  announced,  stoutly,  the  fact,  to  which  this 
witness  was  about  to  testify — the  fact  of  money 
having  been  given  to  procure  conjurations,  and 
neuvaines,  designed  to  cause  the  President  to  per- 
ish, or  to  render  him  a  fool.  The  compilers  of  our 
judicial  formulas,  in  use  in  the  Haytien  tribunals, 
never  suspected  that  one  of  them  would  serve,  in 
the  year  1849,  as  the  frame  of  an  accusation  of  sor- 
cery. After  having  paid,  this  tribute,  to  the  univer- 
sal cowardice,  the  judges,  however,  had  the  courage 
(under  the  circumstances  it  was  really  courage)  to 
pronounce  sentence  of  death  only  against  three  of 
the  accused.  Three  others  were  condemned  to  three 
years  imprisonment ;  and  the  remaining  four  ac- 
quitted, but  left  by  a  last  agreement,  to  the  discre- 


iinder  sentence  of  a  capital  condemnation.  A  more  strange  coinci- 
dence, still,  is  that  the  brother  of  the  man,  against  whom,  Soulou- 
que seemed  to  have  summed  up  his  hatred  for  the  colored  class,  was 
precisely  the  person,  to  whom,  as  avc  have  seen,  he  owed  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  presidency. 


SOULOUQUE    AND    IILS    EMPIRE.  233 

tion  of  the  President.     Among  these  avant-derniers 
was  General  Celigny  Ardouin. 

When  he  was  apprised  of  this  result,  the  Presi- 
dent tore  the  minutes  of  the  judgment  to  pieces, 
exclaiming  furiously,  that  they  had,  precisely,  con- 
demned to  capital  punishment  those,  whose  death 
was  indifferent  to  him.  The  judges,  wild  with 
terror,  excused  themselves,  hecause  of  the  timidity 
of  the  witness,  who  had  heen  thrown  into  a  dun- 
geon. The  collective  sentence  Avas  annulled  ;  and 
the  ten  accused  persons  were  remanded  before  a  new 
council  of  war,  sitting  at  Croix-des-Bouquets,  about 
three  leagues  from  Port-au-Prince. 

But  Soulouque  had  calculated,  that  day,  on  a 
large  execution.  He  remembered,  conveniently, 
that  he  had  in  confinement  three  unhappy  persons, 
who  had  been  condemned  to  death,  for  more  than 
a  year  past ;  and,  having  been  disappointed  in  a 
grand  tragedy,  this  was  a  very  fit  substitute,  for 
his  eager  impatience  of  slaughter.  The  unfortu- 
nate men  were.  General  Desmaret,and  his  two  com- 
panions ; — the  same  who,  in  1848,  immediately 
after  the  expedition  to  the  South,  had  been  spared 
by  the  request  of  the  entire  population.  They  were 
executed  at  once  ;  but  none  of  tliem  were  killed  at 
the  first  fire.  Here  was  again  exliibited  one  of 
those  proceedings  of  Soulouque's  distributive  jus- 
tice. The  susjoects,  having  extenuating  circumstan- 
ces in  their  favor,  were  shot,  as  they  shoot  a  soldier 


234  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

everywhere  ; — wliilst  the  others,  those  who  were 
specially  recommended,  were  allowed  to  die  hy  in- 
ches. Either  because  Soulouqne  was  more  terrible, 
vanquished  than  as  victor — or,  that  the  question  of 
sorcery,  which  was  mixed  up  with  the  affair,  had 
enlisted,  on  this  occasion,  all  the  vaudoux  sympa- 
thies of  the  city,  on  the  side  of  the  executioner — 
the  people  did  not  even  murmur  against  this  fero- 
cious retraction  of  the  three  pardons  they  had 
obtained.  The  execution  passed  off,  without  any 
other  incident,  than  the  appearance  of  the  Execu- 
tive ;  who,  surrounded  by  a  numerous  staff — whose 
presence  did  not  even  disturb  a  band  of  dogs  occu- 
pied in  licking  up  the  blood — came  to  witness  the 
executions,  and  count  the  red  marks  on  this  human 
target.  As  to  General  Celigny  Ardouin,  and  his 
nine  co-accused,  they  were  conducted  on  foot,  and 
in  chains,  to  Croix-des-Bosquets.  The  road  had 
been  rendered  so  impracticable,  by  the  rains  of  the 
season,  that,  they  took  seven  hours,  to  pass  over 
this  distance  of  three  leagues,  although  the  escort 
drove  them  forward  with  blows.  M'lle.  Celigny 
Ardouin  prefered  to  follow  her  father. 

The  consul-general  of  France,  joined  by  the  vice- 
consul  (for  the  time,  at  the  head  of  the  British  con- 
sulate) desired  to  make  a  supreme  effort,  in  favor 
of  the  unfortunate  General.  The  usual  scene 
transpired  ;  excessive  exhaustion  interrupted,  only 
from  time  to  time,  by  short  silences,  the  furious 
incoherences  of  Soulouque — incoherences,  which, 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  235 

on  this  occasion^  had  the  invariable  refrain  :  ^^J 
must  have  his  blood  /" 

'^  But  " — said  M.  Kaybaud_,  ^^  wait  at  least  until 
he  is  positively  condemned  ;  and  if  he  is,  he  will 
still  have  the  riglit  to  sue  for  a  review  of  his  sen- 
tence." 

'^  No  !  no  !"  replied  Soulouque,  '^  it  will  not  end 
there  .  .  .  since,  I  tell  you,  his  blood  is  necessary 
to  me.  He  will  be  shot  immediately — a7id  like  a 
dogV 

'^  At  least  have  pity  on  his  wife,  and  his  un- 
happy children  !" 

^'  I  swear  it !  let  them  all^  all,  perish!'' 

The  English  vice-consul,  in  despair  of  the  case, 
replied:  ''Put  him  in  one  of  your  terrible  dun- 
geons, at  Mole-Saint-Nicholas  ;  but,  at  least,  spare 
him  his  life  !" 

' '  1  will  take  good  care  of  it !  He  will  enter  that 
dungeon,  ivhence  no  one  returns !  .   ,   ." 

Having  been  condemned  to  death,  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  unhappy  General  was  execu- 
ted, at  nine  o'clock,  in  spite  of  his  right  of  appeal. 
He  died  like  all  the  others,  with  an  admirable  cool- 
ness— and,  notwithstanding  he  was  also  left  to  die 
by  inches  ;  he  was  particularly  recommejided.  The 
arrest  of  some  other  persons  of  distinction,  filled 
the  void,  immediately,  that  this  triple  speculation 
of  brother  Joseph  had  made  in  the  dungeons. 

Soulouque  intended  to  have  had  himself  proclaim- 
ed Emperor,  on  his  return  from  the  conquest  of  the 


236  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

East,  in  the  churcli  at  Gona'iveSj  where  Dessalines 
had  been  proclaimed  ;  and,  the  East  not  wishing 
to  allow  itself  to  he  conquered,  this  supremely 
ridiculous  idea  seemed  indefinitely  postponed.  But 
the  new,  and  brilliant  victory,  which,  the  President 
had  obtained  over  the  intrigues  of  sorcery,  sud- 
denly, restored  him  to  the  feeling  of  his  predestina- 
tion ;  and,  lie  yielded  himself  to  the  soft  violence 
of  the  half-a-dozen  droles,  who  had  beset  him  with 
this  idea,  since  the  close  of  1847. 

The  21st  of  August,  1849,  he  began  to  hawk 
about,  at  Port-au-Prince,  from  house  to  house,  and 
from  shop  to  shop,  a  petition  to  the  two  Chambers, 
by  which,  the  ^'  Haytien  people,  jealous  of  preserv- 
ing intact  the  sacred  principle  of  liberty,  .  .  . 
appreciating  the  inexpressible  benefits  which  His 
Excellency,  President  Faustin  Soulouque,  had  con- 
ferred upon  the  country,  .  .  .  recognizing  the  in- 
cessant and  heroic  efforts  he  had  manifested  in 
consolidating  tJie  institutions ,  ...  do  bestoio  upon 
him,  without  further  ceremony,  the  title  of  Em- 
peror of  Hayti."  No  one,  of  course,  carried  his 
contempt  of  life,  so  far,  as  to  refuse  his  signature 
to  this  document.  On  the  25th,  the  petition  was 
taken  to  the  Chamber  of  Representatives,  who  se- 
conded, with  double  eagerness  from  enthusiasm 
and  terror,  the  loish  of  the  people ;  and  the  next 
day,  the  Senate  sanctioned  the  decision  of  the 
Chamber  of  Representatives. 

The  same  day,  the  Senators,  on  horseback,  went 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  23t 

in  a  body  to  the  palace.  The  president  of  the 
Senate  carried,  in  his  hand,  a  crown  of  gilt  paste- 
hoard,  made  during  the  night.  He  phaced  it,  with 
formal  precaution,  on  the  august  head  of  Soulou- 
que,  whose  countenance  became  radiant  at  this 
desirable  contact.  The  president  of  the  Senate, 
then,  attached  to  the  breast  of  tlie  Emperor,  a 
large  decoration  of  unknown  origin, — passed  a  chain 
about  the  neck  of  the  Empress, — and,  pronounced 
his  address  ;  to  which  His  Majesty  Faustin  replied 
witli  spirit : 

' '  Vive  la  liberie  !  vive  V  egalite !" 

The  Emperor  and  his  cortege,  then  proceeded  to 
the  church,  to  the  sound  of  the  most  terrible  music 
possible  to  imagine,  but  which  was  lost,  liappily, 
in  the  frenzied  crescendo  of  vivats,  and  the  deafen- 
ing noise  of  salvos  of  artillery,  Avhicli  continued, 
almost  without  interruption,  the  whole  day.  On 
leaving  the  church.  His  Majesty,  marched  through 
the  city  ;  and,  I  leave  the  reader  to  imagine,  the 
profusion  of  garlands,  triumphal-arches,  suits  of 
hangings,  and  inscriptions,  that  were  displayed  ! 
At  the  end  of  eight  days,  the  illuminations,  by 
order,  still  continued  ;  and  the  police  watched,  with 
a  suspicious  eye,  the  freshness  of  the  leaves,  with 
which  each  house — especially  those  of  the  mulat- 
toes — continued,  during  the  order,  to  be  decorated. 

In  the  meantime,  Faustin  1st,  sliut  up  in  his 
cabinet,  passed  his  entire  time,  in  contemplation^ 
before  a  series  of  engravings,  representing  the  cere- 


238  SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

monies  of  Napoleon's  coronation.  Not  being  able 
to  wait  any  longer,  His  Imperial  Majesty  had  the 
principal  merchant  of  Port-au-Prince  called,  one 
morning,  and  commanded  him  to  order,  imme- 
diately, from  Paris,  a  costume,  in  every  particular 
like  that  he  admired  in  these  engravings.  Faustin 
1st,  besides,  ordered,  for  himself,  a  crown — one  for 
the  Empress — a  sceptre,  globe,  hand-of-justice, 
throne,  and  other  accessories,  all  to  he  like  those 
used  in  the  coronation  of  Napoleon.  The  finances 
of  the  Empire  did  not  recover  from  this  expense 
for  a  long  time  ;  for  all  these  objects  were  delivered, 
payed  for,  and  what  is  more,  used,  as  we  will  see 
further  on. 

Whilst  His  Majesty  discussed  the  price  of  his 
throne,  his  sceptre,  his  royal  mantle  sown  with 
golden  bees,  and  all  the  et  cceteras,  the  departments 
advertised  by  public  rumor  (for  there  had  not  even 
been  a  question  of  consulting  them),  that  they  had 
an  Emperor — the  departments,  hastened  to  send 
in,  adhesion  upon  adhesion.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
say,  that  the  most  flourishing  signatures  and  the 
most  eccentric  paraphi-ases,  belonged  to  the  stts- 
jjects,  yellow  as  well  as  black.  This  graduation  of 
universal  enthusiasm,  reproduced  itself,  under  all 
possible  forms  :  thus,  the  most  noted  localities  were 
content  to  fire,  in  honor  of  Faustin  1st,  twenty-one 
cannon — whilst  the  most  obscure  places,  went  up 
to  two  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The  ultra-black 
party,  however,  surpassed  all  others  in  the  pomp 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  239 

of  forms.  The  words  Sire,  or  Emperor^  in  their 
opinion  was  too  inexpressive,  and  they  were  sub- 
stituted by — magnanimous  liero^  or,  illustrious  sover- 
eign, or  illustrious  grand  sovereign !  In  the  serm ons , 
preached  for  the  occasion,  by  the  adventurers,  dis- 
guised as  priests^ — who  compose  the  greater  part 
of  what  is  called  the  Haytien  clergy, — Soulouque 
became  the  verij  christian  Emperor,  or  His  very 
cliristian  Majesty. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Empire  dates  from  the 
20th  day  of  September.  The  imperial  power  is 
there  declared  hereditary,  and  transmissible  from 
male  to  male,  with  the  right  of  the  Emperor  in 
the  event  he  should  have  no  direct  heirs  (which  is 
the  case  with  Soulouque,  having  only  a  daughter) 
to  adopt  one  of  his  nephews,  or  to  designate  his 
successor.  The  form  of  promulgating  the  laws^  is 
as  follows  :  ^'  In  the  name  of  the  nation,  we  .  .  . 
by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Em- 
pire,'' .  .  .  which  gave  satisfaction  at  once  to  the 
partisans  of  republican  right — to  those  of  divine 
right — and  to  those  of  constitutional  right.  The 
person  of  the  Emperor  is  inviolable  and  sacred ; 
and  the  sovereignty  resides  in  the  universality 
of  the  citizens.  The  Emperor  names  the  Senate, 
which  does  not  prevent  the  Senate  from  uniting 
such  attributes,  as  are  much  more  sovereign  than 
the  national  sovereignty,  from  which  it  does  not 
emanate;  and  more  powerful  than  the  Emperor  by 
divine  right,  whose  creature  it  is  :  and  so  forth. 


240  8OUL0UQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

We  see  that  the  Haytien  Constitution  has  no 
reason  to  envy,  in  point  of  absurdity,  any  other 
constitution.  Practice,  in  this  case  corrected,  at 
least,  the  contradictions  of  theory  ;  for  it  is  well 
understood  that  any  Senator,  or  Deputy,  who 
should  think  of  differing  with  the  Executive  power, 
would  he  immediately  shot ;  this  diminishes  the 
chances  of  conflict.  As  to  tlie  Hayticns,  they 
would  have  nothing  to  desire,  as  regards  j^olitical 
and  civil  rights,  if  the  Constitution  could  guaran- 
tee them  a  last  privilege :  that  of  dying  a  natural 
death. 

The  compensation  of  the  Senators  and  Deputies 
is  fixed,  at  200  gourdes  a  month— ^or,  about  eight 
hundred  francs  a  year,  at  the  actual  currency  of 
the  gourde.  One  day,  having  the  boldness  to  ask 
an  increase  of  pay.  His  Imperial  Majesty  was  very 
near  having  them  shot. 

The  civil  list  is  fixed  at  150,000  gourdes ,  which, 
as  to  every  other  person,  would  signify  sixty  thou- 
sand francs,  but,  for  Faustin  1st,  means  150,000 
Sj^ariish  dollars  ;  or  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand 
francs.  Here  is  a  detail  of  interpretation,  which 
has  not  even  been  raised.  Every  proportion  of  the 
population  being  considered,  Louis  Philippe  would 
have  to  possess,  a  civil  list  of  fifty-eight  millions, 
in  order  to  attain  the  splendor  of  Faustin  1st. 

The  Empress  received  an  appanage  of  fifty  thou- 
sand gourdes.  An  annual  sum  of  thirty  thousand 
goiLrdeSj  the  distribution  of  which  was  left  to  the 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  241 

Emperor,  himselF,  was  allowed  to  the  nearest 
parents  of  His  Majesty.  Soulouque  lias  not  yet 
definitely  stopped  this  list  of  his  parents  ;  because, 
the  statute  concerning  the  Imperial  family,  has  these 
words,  in  the  preamble  :  ^'  We  decree  the  follow- 
ing :  Article  1st— The  Imperial  family  is  com- 
posed,/or  tlie  present,  &c.,"  which  is  a  hook  of 
consolation  to  the  forgotten  cousins.  Such  as  it  is, 
this  list  has,  already,  a  reasonable  length.  Be- 
sides the  brother  of  the  Emperor  and  the  father 
and  mother  of  the  Empress  Adelina,  we  see  figur- 
ing on  it  eleven  nephews  or  nieces  of  the  Emperor, 
and  five  brothers,  three  sisters  and  five  aunts  of 
the  Empress— in  all,  twenty-seven  princes  and 
princesses  of  tlie  hlood ;  they  are  very  glad  to  be  on 
it,  for  they  will  have  some  shoes  during  their  lives. 

As  to  the  Empress'  aunts,  one  is  a  Duchess,  and 
the  four  others  are  Countesses.  Her  brothers  and 
sisters  are,  also.  Counts  and  Countesses.  Serene 
Highness  is  limited  to  Mon seigneur,  the  Prince 
Derival  Levequc,  and  to  Madame,  the  Princess 
Marie  Michel,  the  father  and  mother  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty, Adelina.  Imperial  Highness  begins  with  the 
brother  and  nephews,  or  nieces  of  the  Emperor. 
The  first,  has  the  title  of  'Monseigneur ,  whilst  the 
nephews  are  simply  called  Monsieur,  the  Haytien 
Prince.  The  nieces  are,  only,  Madame  very  short. 
The  daughter  of  the  Emperor  (Madame  Olive)  is 
Princess  Imperial  of  Hayti. 

Will  the  new  Court  be  exclusively  military,  like 


242  SOULOUQUE   AND    IIIS   EMPIRE. 

that  of  Dessalines — or,  feudal,  like  that  of  Chris- 
tophe  ?  All  that  we  can  conjecture,  on  this  grave 
question,  is  that,  it  will  he  settled,  in  the  most  ex- 
travagant sense.  The  expectations,  which  the 
friends  of  mirth  entertained  on  this  suhject,  were 
even  much  exceeded  hy  the  reality. 

Christophe,  at  the  end  of  four  years  of  his  reign, 
had  only  named,  three  princes,  eight  dukes,  nine- 
teen counts,  thirty-six  barons,  and  eleven  cheva- 
liers— seventy-seven  nobles,  in  all.  Soulouque, 
himself,  improvised  at  the  first  batch,  four  princes 
of  the  Empire,  fifty-nine  dukes,  two  marchionesses, 
ninety  counts,  two  hundred  and  fifteen  barons, 
and  thirty  chevaliers — four  hundred  nobles  in  all ; 
more  than  quintuple  the  aristocracy  of  Christophe, 
and  equivalent  to  what  would  be,  in  proportion  to 
the  population  of  France,  a  batch  of  nearly  twenty- 
nine  tJiousand  nobles.  The  princes,  and  dukes, 
are  chosen  among  the  Generals  of  Division  ;  the 
counts,  among  the  Generals  of  brigade ;  the  barons, 
among  the  Adjutant  Generals,  and  Colonels  ;  and 
the  chevaliers,  among  the  Lieutenant-Colonels. 
The  civil  functionaries  have  been  the  object,  of  an- 
other batcli  of  nobles,  who  have,  considerably,  in- 
creased this  figure.  The  Senators  and  Deputies, 
for  example,  are  all  barons — that  is,  assimilated  in 
rank  to  Colonels.  These  titles  are  hereditary ; 
but  Soulouque,  differing  in  this  respect  from  Chris- 
tophe^  has  not  attached  territorial  privileges  to 
them  ;  although,  a  feudal  name  is  joined  to  the 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  243 

titles,  as  far  as  the  class  of  barons,  exclusivel3^ 
The  de,  as  under  Christophe,  has  been  put  before 
all  the  names — what  do  I  say  ?— even  before  the 
first  names  ;  as  for  example,  in  place  of  writing, 
M.  le  Baron  Louis  de  Leveille,  they  write,  le  Baron 
de  Louis  de  Leveille.     When  they  took  this  aristo- 
cratic particle,  they  did  know  how  much  of  it  to  use. 
The  four  princes  of  the  Empire  bear  the  title  of 
Serene  Highness.     At  the   head,  figures  Monseig- 
neur  Louis  Pierrot ;  in  other  words  Ex-President 
Pierrot,  who,  having  been  banished,  after  his  fall, 
into  the  interior,  did  not  expect  such  good  fortune. 
Monseigneur  de  Louis  Pierrot  bears,  by  exception, 
the  title  of  Prince  Imperial.     His  three  colleagues 
Avere    the    Generals,  Lazarre  Tape-a-l'CEil,   Souf- 
fran,  and  Monseigneur  de  Bobo.     Bobo  was  the 
first  wlio  accorded  Soulouque  the  title  of  Illustrious 
Grand  Sovereign.     Such   a  delicate  attention  mer- 
ited, from  him,  another,  and  His  Majesty  named 
him    Prince   of    Cap-Haiti  en — a   city,    for   which 
Monseigneur  de  Bobo  had,  in  fact,  an  old  passion. 
He  loved  this  city  so  much,  that  he  was  near  car- 
rying it  away,  piece-meal,  in  his  pockets.     This 
miserable  wretch  was  imprisoned,  at  the  time  of 
Beyer's  fall,  for  robbery,  and  other  atrocities,  com- 
mitted after  the  earthquake  which  overthrew  the 

Cap. 

Of  the  four  Princes  of  the  Empire,  the  eternal 
Pierrot  is  the  only  one  now  remaining.  Lazarre 
Tapc-a-rOEil  and  Souffran  survived  only  a  short 


244  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE. 

time,  {li'ter  lliis  rnagiiilicent  advancement.  As  to 
Bobo,  it  is  reported,  that  at  this  time  he  is  a  runa- 
way in  the  woods  ;  and  the  following  is  the  reason 
of  it: 

The  ex-bandit  belonged  to  that  ultra-black  coterie, 
which,  after  peopling  the  prisons,  and  cemeteries, 
with  mulattoes,  in  its  turn,  paid  abundant  tributes 
of  blood  to  the  ferocious  suspicions  which  it  had 
excited;  and  which,  for  its  own  benefit,  it  justi- 
fied. In  fact,  we  can  affirm,  that  each  of  its  mem- 
bers had,  more  or  less,  dreamed  that,  the  marvelous 
destiny  of  Soulouque  would  be  liis.  Faustin  1st 
was  not  ignorant  of  this  ;  reciprocal  denunciations 
had  apprised  him  of  it,  at  need  ;  and,  his  silent 
l^olice  were  the  more  watchful  of  Bobo,  because  he 
commanded,  in  chief,  the  province  of  the  North, 
which  was  very  jealous  of  the  metropolitan  pre- 
ponderance of  the  West,  and  had  often  aimed  at 
constituting  itself  a  separate  Government.  In  the 
month  of  April  1851,  and  after  having  tried  his 
hand,  by  the  execution  of  his  minister  of  justice, 
Francisque,  (another  notability  of  the  ultra-black 
party)  Soulouque,  therefore,  deprived  Bobo  of  his 
command,  and  ordered  him  to  come  to  Fort-au- 
Prince,  and  ask  his  august  clemency.  Monseigneur 
de  Bobo  knew,  all  the  time,  by  experience,  that, 
in  refusing  to  obey  this  invitation,  he  would  be 
condemned  to  death,  but,  that  in  obeying  it,  he 
would  be  shot ;  and  he  escaped  this  dilemma,  by 
the  least  dangerous  alternative — hij  flujht. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  245 

Soulouque  expected  an  attempt  at  revoltj  and  lie 
had  taken  measures  to  repress  it ;  but  many  months 
passed  away,  without  Bobo  giving  any  signs  of  life. 
The  unknown,  mystery,  as  we  know,  exercised  a 
terrible  influence  on  the  suspicious  mind  of  His 
Majesty  ;  and,  wishing  to  touch,  with  his  finger, 
the  invisible  danger  which  covered,  in  his  opinion, 
the  inaction  of  the  disgraced  favorite,  Faustin  1st 
marched  to  the  North,  at  the  head  of  a  real  arm3\ 
Arriving  at  the  Cap,  he  declared,  that  prince  Bobo, 
having  become  "the  rebel  Bobo,"  had  forfeited  all 
his  titles  ;  and  he  put  a  price  on  his  head,  by  de- 
claring, every  one  an  accomplice  of  said  rebel,  who, 
knowing  his  refuge,  did  not,  immediately  inform 
the  authorities.  But  the  religion  of  hospitality  is, 
still,  so  perennial  among  the  negroes,  that  the  pro- 
scribed noble  has,  until  this  day,  escaped  the  clem- 
ency of  his  august  master. 

With  regard  to  the  ministei-  Francisque,  death 
surprised  him,  in  the  class  of  dukes  ;  and  his  his- 
tory is  sufficiently  characteristic,  to  merit  a  second 
digression.  On  a  certain  night,  the  entire  loost  of 
custom-house  officers  broke  into  the  counting  room 
of  a  foreign  merchant,  and  stole,  from  it,  a  consid- 
erable sum  of  money.  The  investigation,  ordered 
on  this  occasion,  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  revolu- 
tionary manifesto,  and,  also,  a  list  of  the  members  of 
the  provisional  government,  on  which  flourished  the 
very  flower  of  the  Similien  coterie,  or  Zinglijis  party, 
(as  they  were  called  at  Port-au-Prince) ;  some- 
11 


246  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIKE. 

thing  like  the  party  of  the  razors.  In  this  list, 
figured  the  name  of  Francisque's  own  brother. 
The  latter  was,  very  soon,  deposed  by  a  decree, 
which,  instead  of  giving  him  his  title  of  Duke  de 
Limbe,  called  him  simply  citizen  Francisque  ;  which 
was  equivalent  to  a  double  disgrace  ;  and,  a  short 
time  afterwards,  he  was  put  under  arrest.  They  only 
removed  him  from  the  dungeon,  where  he  had  lain, 
chained  with  his  feet  in  the  air,  for  several  days, 
in  order  to  conduct  him,  with  nine  co-accused,  be- 
fore a  council  of  war,  whose  jurisdiction  he,  vainly 
denied,  not  being  himself  a  military  man.  Fran- 
cisque  had  not,  really,  taken  any  part  in  the  con- 
spiracy ;  but,  to  the  challenge  that  the  accused 
could  furnish  an  easy  proof  of  it,  the  imperial 
commissioners  replied,  at  first,  by  jovial  pleasan- 
tries, arid,  then,  by  asking,  against  him  and  the 
four  other  accused  persons  who  had  been  specially 
recommended,  the  sentence  of  death  ; — a  sentence, 
which  was  drawn  up,  midst  laughter,  and  the  noisy 
yawns,  of  the  Messieurs  of  the  council. 

Although,  he  had  appealed  from  it,  the  tribunal 
wished,  on  the  spot,  to  furnish  a  spectacle  of  the 
de2:radation  of  a  Duke,  and  they  brutally  tore  off 
from  Francisque  his  decorations.  The  council  of 
revision  had  the  courage  to  annul  the  sentence. 
The  five  condemned  persons  were,  then,  taken  be- 
fore a  new  council  of  war,  sitting  at  Croix-des-Bou- 
quets  ;  and  Avhich  was  presided  over  by  the  same 
man,  who,  in  this  very  place,  had  pronounced  the 


SOULOUQUE  AND    IFIS    EMPIRE.  24T 

.condemnation  of  General  Celigny  Ardouin,  one  of 
the  victims  of  Francisqne.  An  hour,  afterwards, 
the  latter,  wlio  had,  moreover,  made  an  appeal, 
was  executed  with  tw^o  otliers.  He  did  not  fall  un- 
til the  third  discharge.  Francisque  w^as  the  third 
minister  sliot,  in  three  years.  On  the  evening  of 
the  execution,  an  expression  of  pure  joy  illumi- 
nated tlie  face  of  Soulouque — who  exclaimed  with 
the  accent  of  a  satisfied  conscience  : 

^^They  will  not   say  this  time   that  he  had  no 
trial  !" 

But  let  us  return  to  the  new  Court.  Every  duke 
was  addressed  as,  Ms  grace  Monseigneur  de  N.  .  . 
Excellenci^ helonged  to  counts;  and  harons,  were 
designated,  uniformly,  by  monsieur.  It  is  not  the 
first  offence  in  creating  dukes  of  Marmelade  and 
Lemonade.  The  nomination  of  tlie  latter  relaxed 
the  most  gloomy  foreheads  ;  for,  as  to  lemonade, 
it  had  never  been  know^n  but  as  tafa.  Monseig- 
neur de  Lemonade,  having  been,  besides,  appointed 
grand  pantler  (master  of  the  pantry)  wandered  from 
door  to  door,  like  a  troubled  spirit,  vainly,  asking 
what  was  the  nature  of  his  functions.  In  despair 
of  his  case,  his  grace  addressed  the  Emperor,  who 
not  knowing  any  better  himself,  was  content  to 
reply:  ^'It  is  somefhirig  good."  There  is  a  duke 
du  Trou  (of  the  Hole),  and  a  duke  du  Trou-Bon- 
hon  (of  the  sugar  candy  Hole)  ;  a  count  de  la  Se- 
ringue  (of  the  Syringe),  a  count  de  Grand-Gosier 
(of  the  Great-Gullet),  a  count  de  Coupe- Haleine  (of 


248  SOULOTTQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

Short- Wind),  and  a  count  de  Numero-Deux  (of  the 
Number-Two).     [See  Moniteur  Ilditien.'] 

As  under  Christophe,  these  kinds  of  designation 
have  geography  for  their  excuse.  Some  barons 
bear  names  to  kill,  such  as  the  Baron  de  Arlequin 
(Harlequin,)  the  Baron  de  Gilles-Azur  (of  Blue- 
Clowns,)  the  Baron  de  Poutoute  (of  All-louse);  or 
gallant  names,  such  as  the  Baron  de  Paul  Gupidon 
(of  Paul  Cupid,)  the  Baron  de  Jolicceur  (of  Good- 
heart,)  the  Baron  de  Jean  Lindor,  the  Baron  de 
Ilesamour  Boho  (Hurt-my-love-a-little,)  and  the 
Chevalier  de  Pouponneau. 

Many  of  these  dignitaries  have  been  in  the  gal- 
ley-slave prisonS;,  and  others,  ought  to  have  been 
there :  they  are  not  perfect.  The  piquet,  Jean 
Denis,  for  example,  had  been  named  Didce  ^'Aqui7i, 
the  principal  theatre  of  his  robberies  ;  the  execu- 
tor of  the  eminent  works  of  the  piquets,  Voltaire 
Castor,  has  become  his  excellency  M.  de  Voltaire 
Castor,  Count  de  Tlle-a-Vache.  Here  and  there, 
on  the  contrary,  a  few  dukes  appear,  some  counts 
and  barons,  who,  in  such  a  midst,  really  merit  to 
be  distinguished  ;  and  who  feel  themselves,  very 
badly  at  ease,  among  their  terrible  peers. 

Haytien  high  life  is  not  allowed  to  be  very  acces- 
sible. The  duchesses  and  countesses  persist,  for 
the  most  part,  in  selling — this  one^  some  tobacco 
and  cafidles — that  one,  some  rum — and  another, 
some  fish  or  other  eatables  ;  neither  more  nor  less 
than  Her  Majesty  did  the  same,  before  the  elevation 


SOULOUQUE  AND  PUS  EMPIRE.  249 

of  her  husband.  Without  these  useful  industries, 
the  dukes,  with  their  seventy  francs  a  month, 
would  scarcely  sustain  the  grandeur  of  their  rank. 
Many  of  them  are,  even,  crushed  out  under  the 
burden ;  and  do  not  scorn,  from  time  to  time,  visit- 
ing the  simple  bourgeois  in  order  to  borrow  from 
them  a  few  gourdes,  destined  to  purchase,  shoes, 
pantaloons,  or,  some  other  little  accessories,  of 
every  aristocratic  toilette.  They  ask,  occasionally 
an  increase  of  pay,  but  His  Majesty  is  without 
bowels  for  these  illustrious  unfortunates. 

Not  satisfied  with  having  a  noblesse,  Faustin  1st 
has  created  an  Imperial  and  Military  Order  of 
Saint-Faustin,  with  chevaliers,  commanders,  and 
so  forth  ;  besides,  an  Imperial  and  Civil  Order  of 
the  Legion  dlionneur.  The  ribbon  of  the  Legion 
d'honneur  was  originally  purely  red  ;  but,  since, 
he  has  modified  the  thing — which  I  regret  to  an- 
nounce to  certain  French  democrats,  who,  allured 
by  the  similarity  of  names,  have  solicited  of  Fans- 
tin  1st,  under  color  of  being  negropolists,  (and 
one  of  them  with  offers  of  money)  this  vain  bauble, 
of  which  the  red  is  decidedly  bordered  with  blue. 
Here  again  I  exaggerate  nothing.  The  demands 
of  this  kind  have  been  so  numerous,  that  Sou- 
louque,  finally  conceiving  himself  a  high  estimate 
of  his  two  Orders  of  chivalry,  expressed  the  regret 
of  having  been  too  prodigal  with  them^  since  their 
creation.      Everybody,   in   fact,    are   members   of 


250  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

these  two  Orders,  to  begin  from  the  rank  of  captain 
inclusively. 

The  organization  of  the  household  of  the  Em- 
peror, and  of  that  of  the  Empress,  is  the  same, 
as  it  was  under  Christophe  ;  who  had,  himself, 
blended  together  the  ceremonial  of  the  Court  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  that  of  the  (;Ourt  of  England. 
Only,  Soulouque  has  infinitely  more  governors 
of  chateaux,  chamberlains,  masters  of  ceremony, 
huntsmen,  stewards,  &c.,  than  Christophe  ever 
had,  and  even,  I  believe,  than  Louis  XIY.  The 
traditions  of  the  salons  of  Toussaint  and  Chris- 
tophe are  nearly  lost  in  Hayti,  so  that  the  solecisms 
of  etiquette  are  very  frequent,  in  the  new  Court ; 
Soulouque  is  not  exempt  from  them,  himself,  al- 
though he  begins  to  improve.  They  do  as  well  as 
they  can. 


XIII. 

The  Ilayticu  Clergy— Ceremon}'  of  the  Coronation. 

At  tlie  same  time  that  lie  ordered,  from  Paris, 
the  ornaments  of  the  coronation,  Faustin  1st  or- 
dered a  Bishop  from  Rome  ;  and  here  we  are  led 
to  speak,  of  one  of  the  most  characteristic  eccen- 
tricities of  this  eccentric  Empire — the  Haytien 
clergy.. 

Although  the  Catholic  religion  has  heen,  for  a 
long  time,  the  only  one  recognized  in  Hayti — and 
although,  it  emhraces  almost  the  whole  population 
there, — no  hierarchical  tie  binds  the  Haytiens  to 
the  rest  of  the  Church.  Christophe,  it  is  true,  had 
an  archiepiscojjal  see  erected  in  the  Capital,  and 
episcopal  seats,  in  the  chief  cities,  of  his  kingdom  of 
two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  ;  but  there  is 
no  need  of  bishoprics  Avithout  bishops, — and  his 
black  majesty,  who,  in  notifying  his  accession  to 
the  Pope,  asked  him  to  send  him  a  few,  had  the 
affliction  not  even  to  receive  a  reply. 

We  can  conjecture  what  must  be  the  Haytien 
clergy,  in  the  absence  of  every  institution,  and  all 
control.  As  the  first  proof  of  its  morality,  we  will 
state,  that  the  greater  number  of  the  forty-eight, 
or  fifty,  individuals,  French,  Savoyards,  or  Span- 


252  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

ish,  who  compose  it,  live  in  public  concubinage, 
raising,  at  the  parsonage,  the  children  which  re- 
sult from  this  relation  ;  and  say,  without  ceremony, 
to  the  friends  who  visit  them  :  ''I  present  to  you 
my  governess  and  my  cJiildren."  E^^ery  year,  un- 
til the  j)resent,  the  Moniteur  Haytien  has  published 
some  terrible  circulars  again»t  the  governesses  who 
are  too  youngs  but  without  success.  The  more 
scrupulous,  among  these  foreign  priests,  confine 
themselves  to  preserving  appearances,  by  taking 
tivo  governesses,  instead  of  one.  Are  they  menaced 
with  expulsion  ? — they  hasten  to  the  minister  of 
justice,  and  there  humbly  represent  that  the  gover- 
ment  cannot,  without  cruelty,  make  their  children 
orphans.  One  of  these  adventurers,  Corsican  in 
origin,  who  was  finally  expelled,  for  having  taken 
up  arms  in  favor  of  Herard,  said  to  the  minister : 
^^The  Government  does  wrong  in  suspecting  me  ; 
how  can  it  be  that  I  am  not  a  man  of  order  ?  I 
have  a  numerous  family  to  raise  ;  I  have  so  many 
children,  by  such  a  woman."  But  the  woman,  he 
designated,  was  lawfully  married  to  an  inhabitant 
of  the  country.  The  minister,  really,  not  knowing 
whether  to  laugh,  or  be  angry,  at  this  candor  of 
cynicism^  replied:  ^^But  what  you  allege  as  an 
extenuating  circumstance,  is  neither,  more  nor 
less,  than  the  crime  of  adultery,  which  is  prohibi- 
ted by  the  penal  code!"  The  unfortunate  man 
seemed  confounded  by  this  remark  ;  he  had  not 
before  even  dreamed  of  it. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS   EMPIRE.  253 

To  complete  tlieir  disreputOj  the  cures  are,  con- 
tinually,  quarrelling  with  their  flocks,  before  the 
justices  of  the  peace  ;  for,  most  of  them  are  usurers, 
or  keep  a  shop,  at  the  parsonage,  by  their  gover- 
ness— combining  thus,  in  a  way,  as  unexpected  as 
little  edifying  to  religion,  the  property  of  the 
family.  They  live,  besides,  upon  the  best  terms, 
with  vaudoux  sorcery  ;  finding  their  profits,  com- 
pletely, in  selling  it  consecrated  wax-tapers,  which 
are  resold  to  its  customers  ;  and,  in  saying  masses, 
which,  in  order  to  give  them  greater  consequence, 
are  sometimes  made  to  intervene,  in  tlie  conjura- 
tions. This  smuggling  trade,  on  the  frontier  of 
feticMsm  and  Christianity,  is  by  no  means  the  least 
productive  of  the  perquisites  of  the  Haytien  cures. 

After  this,  is  it  astonishing,  if  construing  in 
their  way  the  example  of  men,  whom  they  respect, 
on  the  faith  of  custom,  as  the  living  types  of  duty, 
that  the  free  negroes  of  Hayti  are,  morally,  and 
socially  likewise,  behind — perhaps  more  behind 
than  the  slave  population  of  Saint-Domingo  was, 
formerly  ;  and,  because  they  see  still,  alternating 
in  the  same  house,  christian  baptisms,  philosophi- 
cal marriages,  and  Mandingo  funerals  ?  I  ought 
to  speak  severely  of  these  things  ;  now  here  is  the 
explanation  of  it. 

With  four  or  ^yq  very  honorable  exceptions,  the 
most  worthy  among  the  deserving  Haytiens,  these 
adventurers  are  priests  expelled  from  their  dioceses ; 
and,  who  come  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  a  country. 


254  SOULOUQTTE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

• 

where  tlie  absence  of  hierarclrical  bond  screens 
tlieir  past  conduct  from  all  enquiry,  and  their  pre- 
sent behavior,  from  all  efhcacious  surveillance. 
Besides,  they  are  only  priests  after  their  own 
fashion,  by  virtue  of  false  certificates  ;  and  there 
are  found,  among  them,  those,  who,  not  having 
had  time,  or  the  sagacity^  to  learn  their  new  rblej 
do  not  really  knoAv  how  to  officiate. 

In  his  double  capacity  of  very  cliristian  majesty , 
and  of  grand  vaudoux  dignitary,  Soulouque  j)rac- 
tices,  in  regard  to  funerals,  both  rites,  at  the  same 
time.  Sometime  after  his  elevation,  he  celebrated 
at  Petit-Goave,  the  place  of  his  birth,  a  funeral 
service  to  his  mother.  The  day  was  consecrated 
to  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  ;  but,  after  night- 
fall, Faustin  1st,  with  some  friends,  went  to  the  ceme- 
tery, secretly,  and  with  his  own  hands  sprinkled, 
the -blood  of  an  immolated  goat,  over  the  grave  of 
the  old  slave,  who  had  given  Hayti  an  Emperor. 
According  to  negro  usage,  the  fete  continued  a 
week  ;  and  Faustin  1st  had  a  hundred  beeves  killed, 
for  the  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  vaudoux  guests, 
which  had  assembled,  from  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try. 

At  the  very  time,  Soulouque  was  applying,  to 
Rome  for  the  conclusion  of  a  concordat,  the  vaudoux 
worship  which  he  had  only  practiced  from  the  be- 
ginning secretly,  tended  visibly  to  become  the 
semi-official  religion.  In  travelling,  for  example, 
if  His  black  majesty  hears  the  tambour  of  a  papa 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  255 

beating  in  the  distance,  lie  will  instantly  stop,  and 
seem  absorbed,  for  some  seconds,  in  a  kind  of  inte- 
rior contemplation  ;  then,  followed  by  some  friends, 
who  were,  ordinarily,  fBellegarde,  SoufFran,  and 
Alerte,  he  would  hide  himself,  a  moment,  in  the 
woods,  to  perform  out  of  the  way,  some  mysterious 
compliment  of  the  ceremonies  required,  in  such 
cases,  by  the  couleuvrc.  After  these  African  side- 
prayers,  Faustin  1st  renewing  conversation,  on  his 
favorite  subject — that  is,  as  to  the  negotiations  with 
the  Holy  See — asked  for  new  details  on  the  organic 
law^s,  whose  spirit  he  had  not  well  apprehended, 
and  on  the  concordat j  which  he  took  to  be  a  man. 
Under  Boyer,  after  the  recognition  of  Haytien 
nationality,  there  were  serious  efforts  made,  to  sup- 
press these  monstrosities.  Some  regular  negotiations 
were  opened,  to  this  end,  between  the  Government 
at  Port-^au-Prince  and  the  Court  of  Kome,  which 
sent  an  American  Bishop  to  the  spot,  with  full 
powers  to  conclude  the  basis  of  a  concordat.  Un- 
fortunately, the  Bishop  was  not  sufhcicntly  con- 
ciliatory. He  required,  among  other  things,  the 
suppression  of  that  article  of  the  code,  Avhich  sub- 
jects, to  the  common  law,  the  ecclesiastics  convicted 
of  uttering  seditious  speeches.  On  their  side,  the 
mulatto  party,  who,  with  regard  to  religion,  were 
still  of  the  opinion  of  the  Directory,  showed  them- 
selves still  less  conciliatory,  fixing,  as  the  extreme 
limits  of  their  concessions,  the  Napoleonic  system, 
in  which  was  contained  the  recognition  of  the  right 


256  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

of  divorce.  Altliough  the  commissioners,  delegated 
by  Boyer,  might  have  been  personally  more  com- 
petent than  the  body  of  the  party,  and  although 
there  was  among  them  a  very  able  negotiator,  M. 
•B.  Ardouin,  the  conference  very  soon  became  un- 
pleasant. A  well-known  negropholist  succeeded, 
in  embroiling  every  thing,  by  writing  letter  after 
letter  to  the  Haytien  Government,  in  order  to  de- 
monstrate, as  clear  as  the  day,  that  it  was  about  io 
throw  itself  into  the  lions-mouth  of  Jesuitism. 
Briefly  ;  it  did  not  understand  tlie  matter,  and  the 
young  Republic,  happy  and  proud  in  having  escaped 
the  yoke  of  Jesuitism,  continued  to  sacrifice  to 
snakes  on  the  altar  of  philosophy. 

If,  by  the  elevation  of  Faustin  1st,  snakes  had 
become^  more  than  even,  in  honor  at  Port-au-Prince, 
•as  much  could  not  be  said  of  philosophy  ;  and  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  that  the  obstacles  to  a  concor- 
dat did  not  proceed,  this  time,  from  the  Haytien 
Government.  Soulouque  was,  certainly,  the  man 
to  have  any  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  Govern- 
ment shot  during  the  session,  who  should  be  sufH- 
ciently  imprudent  to  raise  questions  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  cause  his  coronation  to  fail.  There  was  in 
this  matter  to  the  black  monarch,  more  than  a 
question  of  principle — there  was  a  question  of  toi- 
lette ;  for  the  Imi)erial  mantle,  sown  with  golden 
bees,  and  its  splendid  accessories,  could  only  serve 
for  that  occasion. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  257 

Dressing  is^  very  certainly,  one  of  the  greatest 
cares  of  Soulouque.  He  has  heen  seen,  sometimes, 
to  show  himself,  in  the  city  during  the  same  clay, 
under  three  or  four  different  costumes,  each  moiie 
dazzling  than  the  other.  He  ordered,  for  example, 
in  1847,  from  Paris,  a  certain  green  dress,  which 
did  not  cost  less  than  thirty  thousand  francs  ;  just 
the  actual  hudget  of  puhlic  instruction.  Faustin 
Isl,  for  a  long  time,  had  doated  upon  a  certain  gold 
and  scarlet  costume,  ordered  for  Riche,  the  cut  and 
color  of  which,  has  never  been  adopted  but  by  Hay- 
tien  Presidents  and  Swiss  doctors.  The  first  time 
Riche  put  it  on  his  back,  a  flatterer  exclaimed :  ''I 
have  seen  a  similar  dress  on  the  Duke  de  Nemours." 
Riche,  still  a  negro  at  heart,  in  spite  of  his  energies 
and  civilized  instincts,  became  very  pensive  from 
that  time  ;  and,  finally,  said,  in  scratching  his  ear  : 
But  Duke  de  Nemours,  he  not  first  chief.''  This 
discovery  disgusted  him,  immediately,  with  the 
said  costume,  which  he  hastened  to  put  off,  and 
never  afterwards  put  it  on.  Soulouque  had  it  en- 
larged, from  head  to  foot,  including  the  boots,  for 
his  own  use.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that  Soulouque, 
especiall}^  on  horseback,  has  a  very  fine  appearance, 
under  all  this  fabulous  luxury,  which  certainly 
makes  him  the  most  stylish  Emperor  of  our  era. 

But  a  fatality  was  decidedly  mixed  up  with 
this  business.  A  certain  Savoyard  abbe,  named 
Ccssens, — the  grand  chaplain  to  tlie  Emperor, 
and    cure   of    Port-au-Prince,    with    the    title   of 


258  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

Ecclesiastical  Superior, — in  the  meanwhile,  found 
the  secret  of  supplanting  the  Haytien  merchant,  M. 
Villevaleix,  and  of  having  himself  sent,  in  his 
place,  to  Eome,  from  whence  he  counted  certainly 
ui^on  bringing  back  a  mitre.  _  This  is  what  precisely 
sjDoiled  the  whole  affair. 

This  Abbe  Cessens  had  the  advantage,  over  many 
of  his-  brothers,  of  being  really  a  priest,  and^  of 
not  being  an  excommunicated  priest.  The  infor- 
mation which  reached  Rome  concerning  him  was, 
hoAvever,  of  such  a  scandalous  nature,  that,  at  the 
first  audience,  he  was  severely  reprimanded,  by  the 
Holy  Father,  and,  formally,  rejected  at  the  second 
interview.  The  Abbe  Cessens  was  not  pleased  with 
this  disappointment. 

On  returning  from  Rome,  he  related,  what  he 
Avished  to  be  thought  the  pretended  success  of  his 
mission  ;  and  managed  the  thing  so  well^  that  two 
French  journals, — numerous  copies  of  which  were 
sent  to  Saint-Domingo — successively  announced 
in  good  faith,  the  passage  from  Marseilles  of  Father 
Cessens,  BisJiojo  of  Hayti  ;  and,  the  departure  from 
Havre  of  Monseigneur  Cessens,  clothed  with  full 
powers  for  the  Coronation  of  the  Emperor  Soulou- 
que.  The  latter,  to  whom  it  was  very  necessary  to 
tell  part  of  the  truth^  was  not  careful  to  test  a  fable, 
of  which  he  had  the  .2:)rofit,  without  the  responsi- 
bility. And  understanding  that  the  Emperor  did 
not  wish  to  be  undeceived,  the  feAV  Haytiens  who 
knew  the  foundation  of  the  whole  joke,  prudently 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMriRE.  259 

kept  silent.  Not  a  single  member  of  the  clergy 
dared,  to  protest,  openly,  against  this  sacrilegious 
hoax  ;  the  more  courageous  satisfied  themselves, 
by  informing  our  Consul-general,  M.  Maxime  Kay- 
baud,  that  they  would  not  sanction  it,  by  tlieir 
presence.*  M.  Raybaud,  charitably,  remonstrated 
with  one  of  the  ministers,  M.  Dufrene,  alias,  his 
grace,  the  Duke  de  Tiburon,  on  the  necessity  of 
preventing  the  scandal,  which  would  result  from 
this  forbearance,  by  making  Soulouque  forego  his 
project  of  a  coronation. 

M.  Dufrene  promised  to  do  it ;  but  reflecting, 
afterwards — on  one  hand,  that  he  was  a  mulatto^ 
(that  is^  a  suspect,)  and  on  the  other,  that  His  Ma- 
jesty had  had  one  of  his  ministers  shot,  every  year, 
and  that  the  execution  of  the  last  was  nearly  a 
year  since — Monseigneur,  the  Duke  de  Tiburon 
concluded  to  abstain  from  a  communication  so  haz- 
ardous. The  Bishop  Cessens  concluded,  besides, 
with  being  satisfied  with  the  title  of  Yicar  Gene- 
ral— a  title,  equally^  usurped,  but  which,  by  im- 
plying the  idea  of  a  delegation,  permitted  a  certain 
degree  of  likelihood  to  the  pretended  powers,  with 
which  he  claimed  to  be  invested. 

Soulouque,  therefore,  was  about  to  be  crowned 
at  last !  ! 

About  the  close  of  March,  1852,  Port-au-Prince 

*  This  threat  was  not  carried  out.  According  to  the  Moniteur 
Uaytieji,  the  clergy  of  the  Empire  were  present  in  a  body  at  the 
ceremony. 


260  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

was,  literally^  crowded  by  a  multitude  of  deputa- 
tions called  together  by  the  occasiorij  from  all  parts 
of  the  Em.pire.  Sunday,  the  4th  of  April,  new  uni- 
forms, were  distributed^  to  the  troops  of  the  guard 
and  the  garrison.  The  Sunday  following,  there 
was  a  blessing,  and  distribution  of  Imperial  eagles. 
Finally,  on  the  l*7th  of  April,  at  sundown,  a  hun- 
dred cannon,  to  which  an  immense  clamor  of  pub- 
lic joy  replied,  in  the  popular  quarters  of  Bel- Air 
and  Morne-a-Tuf,  announced  that  the  festival  of 
the  coronation  had  begun  ;  that  is,  that  it  was 
necessary  to  illuminate  for  seven  nights,  and  dance 
for  seven  days,  continuously. 

The  next  day,  the  18th,  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  the  Imperial  guard,  and  the  military 
deputations,  occupied  the  Champs  de  Mars,  where 
a  church  had  been  erected  ;  for  the  construction  of 
which,  all  the  carpenters  of  the  Empire  were  re- 
quired, to  the  last  moment.  The  constituted 
corps,  the  consular  body,  the  officers  of  the  French 
steamer,  the  Crocodile,  and  the  representatives  of 
foreign  trade,  assembled  in  this  church,  and  at 
nine  o'clock,  to  the  sound  of  bells,  of  drums,  of 
the  cannonade,  and  of  the  most  terrible  music  pos- 
sible to  imagine.  Their  Majesties  left  the  Imperial 
Palace. 

The  march  was  opened,  by  the  Chevalier  de  Du- 
fort,  king-at-ar'ms,  whom  twenty-seven  heralds-at- 
arms  and  ushers  of  the  palace  followed,  on  foot, 
six  abreast ;   the  first,  were  dressed  in  crimson  vel- 


SOULOUQUE   ANI)    HIS   EMPIRE.  261 

vet,  and  armed  with  a  caduceus.  Then  came,  in 
the  same  order,  the  chevaliers,  the  harons,  and  the 
counts  ;  as  to  the  dukes,  they  marched  all  ahreast. 
If  the  Moniteur  Haytien  is  to  he  helieved,  all  these 
various  dignitaries  wore  costumes  appropriate  to 
their  rank — costumes  of  unequalled  magnificence  ; 
as  witness  that  of  the  princes  and  dukes,  such  as 
an  Imperial  ordinance  of  the  9th  of  Novemher, 
1849,  had  prescribed  : 

^^  A  white  tunic,  which  must  descend  below  the 
knee  ;  a  ro3^al  blue  mantle,  the  lengtli  of  which 
•must  fall  below  the  calf  of  the  leg,  broidered  in 
gold  three  inches  in  breadth  ;  a  doublet  of  red 
taffetas,  fastened  at  the  neck  with  a  tassel  of 
gold  ;  white  silk  stockings  ;  square  gold  buckles  ; 
shoes  of  red  morocco,  covering  the  instep  ;  a 
sword,  with  handle  of  gold,  at  the  side  ;  a  round 
hat,  turned  up  before,  trimmed  with  gold  lace, 
floating  plumes  of  the  national  colors,  for  the 
princes  and  marshals  of  the  Empire — and,  with 
seven  waving,  red  plumes,  for  the  dukes.  "^ 

Witness  again  the  costume  of  the  counts : 

'^A  white  tunic;  a  sky-blue  mantle,  broidered 
in  gold,  of  the  breadth  of  two  inches  ;  doublet  in 
white,  even  longer  than  that  of  the  princes  and 
dukes ;  Avhite  silk  stockings ;  square  gold  buckles  ; 
shoes  of  red  morocco,  &c.  ..." 

B}^  a  singular  omission,  which,  at  first,  seemed 
justified  by  custom  and  the  heat  of  the  climate, 
breeches  were  omitted,  in  the  prescribed  costume, 


262  SOULOUQUE   ANl)    HIS   EMPIRE. 

of  the  first  dignitaries  of  the  Empire.  It  was 
however  a  pure  over  sight,  for  we  see  them  appear 
in  hhie  taffetas,  in  the  uniform  of  the  barons  (red 
coats,)  and  in  red  taffetas,  in  that  of  the  simple 
chevaliers  (blue  coats);  but,  alas  !  (and  may  it  not 
displease  the  Moniteur  Haytien)  nearly  all  tliis 
magnificence,  which,  under  Christophe,  was  liter- 
ally realized,  was  in  this  instance,  entirely  wanting 
except  on  ])aper. 

The  photographic  reproduction  of  the  ceremony, 
which  we  had  an  opportunity  of  consulting,  the 
following  year,  at  Port-au-Prince,  did  not  exhibit 
the  prescribed  costume,  except  in  seven  or  eiglit 
dukes  and  counts.  With  tliese  exceptions,  the 
more  rich  or  more  formal  among  the  grand  digni- 
taries, had  replaced  the  ceremonial  costume,  by  the 
uniforms,  appropriate  to  the  grade  they  held  in 
the  army. 

We  could  study,  among  forty  others,  the  innu- 
merable differences^,  which  distinguished  the  city 
dress  from  the  Court  costume  ;  the  military  uni- 
forms, from  the  bourgeois  clothes  ;  and  the  rest 
were  obliged  to  compensate,  by  dignity  of  attitude, 
for  the  excessive  simplicity  of  their  tenue. 

In  view  of  the  enormous  difference,  which  ex- 
isted, between  the  nominal  and  real  value  of  the 
gourde,  those  princes  and  dukes,  whom  the  Em- 
-peroY  had  not  allowed  a  share  in  the  acknowledged 
robberies,  had  only  a  provision,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  a  little  more  than  forty  cents  a  day,  with  which 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  263 

to  support  tlie  splendors  of  their  rank  ;  winch 
was  evidently  not  enough  for  so  much  taffetas  and 
laces.  We  can  estimate  from  this,  the  share  of 
proportional  luxury,  which  accrued  to  the  counts 
and  barons.  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  un- 
happy chevaliers  !  Among  these,  we  could  name 
more  than  one,  who  showed  ''the  calves  of  his 
legs,"  notwithstanding  the  explicit  prescriptions 
of  the  ordinance  of  the  9th  November,  1849. 

After  the  order  of  the  noblesse,  the  three  minis- 
ters of  the  Emperor,  and  his  chancellor,  marched 
abreast,  to  wit :  Their  Graces,  Monseigneur  de 
Louis  Dufrene,  Duke  de  Tiburon  and  Marshal  of 
tlie  Empire — Monseigneur  de  Louis  Etienne,  Duke 
de  Saint-Louis  du  Sud — Monseigneur  d'Hippolyte, 
Duke  de  la  Bande-du-Nord,  and  His  Excellence  M. 
de  D.  Delva,  Count  de  la  Petite-Kiviere-de-Dal- 
marie.  The  princes  of  the  Imperial  family  fol- 
lowed^ also  abreast,  with  the  exception  of  the  Duke 
de  Port-de-Paix,  brother  of  the  Emperor,  wdio 
marched  alone  about  four  steps  behind.  Twelve 
platoons  of  the  different  corps  of  the  I.nperial 
guard,  behind  which,  marched  six  aides-de-camp 
of  the  Emperor,  preceded,  immediately,  the  car- 
riage which  held  Their  Majesties,  and  the  young 
Princesse  Olive.  Before  and  behind  this  carriage, 
drawn  by  eight  horses — the  magnificence  of  which 
would  not  be  disowned  by  a  more  real  monarch — 
were  drawn  up  eighteen  pages. 

Two  simple, colonels, — the  colonel  of  the  light- 


264  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

horse,  grand  equery  of  the  Emperor — and  the  first 
equery  of  the  Empress,  hoth  on  horsehack,  marched 
on  each  side  of  the  Imperial  carriage.  The  car- 
riage of  the  Princesses  Imperial,  Celia  and  Olivette, 
which  came  next,  was  drawn  hy  only  six  horses, 
and  escorted  hy  only  two  lieutenant  colonels,  six 
aides-de-camp  of  tlie  Emperor,  and  two  platoons 
of  the  guard,  which  separated  it  from  those,  which 
contained  the  other  ladies  of  the  Imperial  familj^, 
to  wit :  the  nieces  of  the  Emperor,  the  j^i'incess 
Marie  Michel,  mother  of  the  Empress  ;  then,  three 
sisters  and  two  aunts  of  the  latter,  who  were  sim- 
ple countesses.  The  programme  placed,  in  suc- 
cession, the  carriages  of  the  ladies  of  honor,  ladies 
in  waiting,  princesses,  duchesses,  countesses^  barons 
and  chevaliers  ;  hut,  with  four  or  fiYe  exceptions, 
the  programme  on  this  point  was  not  carried  out. 
Most  of  these  ladies,  as  I  have  said,  exercised  some 
useful  calling,  and  would  scarcely  have  been  able 
to  exhibit  any  carriages,  except  the  small  hand- 
carts and  wheel-barrows,  upon  which,  they  trans- 
ported their  goods.  Many  among  them,  more 
faithful  to  etiquette  than  their  husbands,  however, 
put  on  the  court  dress,  the  tails  of  which  they 
made  their  little  negroes  carry. 

Arriving  at  the  Champ  de  Mars^  Their  Ilajesties 
entered  a  tent,  to  put  on  the  costume  of  the  coro- 
nation. Some  minutes  afterwards,  tlie  curtain  of 
the  tent  was  raised  again,  and  the  radiant  face  of 
Soulouque — that  large,  fat,  infantine  face,  which 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  205 

the  fear  of  spells,  or  the  thirst  for  blood  sometimes 
changed^  in  such  a  strange  way — was  detached, 
between  a  splendid  diadem,  and  tlie  blue  mantle, 
spangled  with  gold  ;  but  the  mantle  was  too  small, 
and  the  diadem  too  large  !  His  Majesty  carried, 
besides,  the  sceptre,  and  the  hand  of  justice. 
Through  the  influence  of  habit,  and  all  engrossed 
as  he  was  with  his  new  role,  Soulouque  could  not 
avoid,  in  the  short  passage  from  the  tent  to  the 
church,  casting  some  suspicious  looks  before  him  ; 
it  was  useless  trouble.  The  most  minute  examina- 
tions had  been  made,  in  time,  and  they  could  not 
discover^  even  with  a  microscope,  on  all  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Emperor^  either  sprigs  of  grass,  or 
grains  of  dust,  shaping  the  form  of  a  cross.  The 
incredulous,  as  we  know,  were  not  less  interested, 
than  the  believing,  at  these  precautions  ;  because, 
at  e^-y  evil  presage,  which  had  struck  Soulouque, 
for  four  years  past,  a  human  hecatomb  had  answered 
for  it. 

The  Empress,  covered  with  her  mantle,  but 
without  ring  or  crown,  and  escorted,  by  her  cheva- 
liers of  honor,  opened  this  new  march.  The  prin- 
cesses, Olive,  Olivette,  and  Celia,  held  up  her 
mantle  ;  theirs  were  supported,  by  the  chevaliers, 
de  Sampeur,  Leandre  de  Denis,  and  Myrtil  de  La- 
tortue  ;  and  that  of  the  Emperor,  by  the  princes, 
Jean- Joseph  and  Alexander  de  Jean- Joseph.  Each 
of  the  honors — to  wit :  the  sword,  the  collar,  the 
rings^  the  globe,  &c.  &c.,  were  carried  on  a  cushion,' 


2('A\  SOULOUQT-E    ANT)    TITS   EMriRK. 

l»y  a  liigli  dignitarVj  escorted  by  two  other  digni- 
taries of  equal  rank.  A  magnificent  dais  had  been 
raised,  in  the  church,  for  Souh:)uqne  and  Madame 
Soulouque  ;  and  a  Large  and  small  throne  served 
to  receive,  by  turns,  these  two  strange  Majesties, 
according  to  the  different  phases  of  the  ceremony. 
We  must  forego  a  detailed  descrij^tion  of  it. 

The  complicated  evolutions,  by  wliich,  the  ob- 
jects composing  the  toilette  of  tlie  coronation  passed, 
from  the  hands,  the  heads,  and  the  shoulders,  of 
the  august  couple,  to  the  altar  ;  the  benediction 
and  tradition  of  eacli  of  these  objects  ;  tlie  triple 
unction,  whicli  Their  Majesties,  kneeling  on  a 
cushion  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  received  on  the 
forehead,  and  botli  liands  ; — the  Latin  interroga- 
tions addressed  sharply  to  the  Emperor,  at  whicli, 
he  opened  his  staring  eyes,  uncertain,  in  this  roll- 
ing fire  of  new  words,  which  confused  his  m^ory 
for  an  hour,  whether  it  was  proper  for  himself  too 
to  speak  Latin  on  tliat  occasion  ;  the  vigorous 
effort,  by  which  he  recovered  his  presence  of  mind, 
and  comprehended  that  it  was  proper ;  the  rapid 
combat,  which  the  promising  words,  indicated  by 
the  ritual — and  the  confessing  words,  more  fiimiliar 
to  his  christian  souvenirs,  displayed  on  his  lips  ; — 
finally,  the  respectful,  but  noisy  kiss,  which  the 
abbe  Cessens  impressed  on  the  cheeks  of  the 
Monarch  ; — all  these  would  much  exceed  the  limits 
of  this  volume — and  even  then,  we  would  not  have 
reached  the  second  part  of  the  ceremony. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  267 

The  programme  alone,  which  wf^s  moreover  limi- 
ted to  the  most  summary  indications,  was  not  in- 
cluded in  less  than  eleven  mortal  pages  in  folio,  of 
small  print.  A  striking  episode  distinguished  the 
close  of  the  coronation.  The  Emperor,  who  was 
anxious  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  the  Church 
the  sceptre  and  the  sword, — by  a  noble  movement 
of  pride  (which  was,  besides,  anticipated  by  this  pro- 
gramme) took  the  crown  from  tlie  altar,  himself, 
and  phiced  it  on  his  own  head.  As  to  the 'august 
Adelina,  she  was  crowned  by  her  husband. 

This  other  prevision  of  the  programme:  ^'pro- 
longed cries  of  'vive  V Emperor !  viveV Imperatrice!' 
heard  in  all  parts  of  the  Church,"*  was  not  less 
faithfully  filled  ;  and  that,  at  two  different  times, 
before  the  Te  Deum,  and  after  tlie  constitutional 
oath,  taken  on  the  Holy  Evangel  by  the  Emperor. 
Tlie  Abbe  Cessens  gave  the  signal  for  the  first  ac- 
clamations,-by  exclaiming  on  the  march  from  the 
great  throne  :  '  Vivat  Imperator  in  wiernum  /' ;  and 
the  king-at-arms  gave  the  signal  to  the  others,  by 
saying,  in  the  same  breath  :  ^'  The  very  glorious^  and 
most  august  Emperor,  Faustin  1st,  Emperor  of 
Hayti,  is  croioned  and  entltroned.  Vive  V Empereur!' ' 
The  programme  should  have  certainly  dispensed 
with  carrying  anticipation  so  far.     A  very  natural 

*That  nothing  raipfbt  be  wanting  to  complete  the  imitation — the 
progriimme  was  tcxtually  copied,  and  without  an}'  other  variation, 
than  changing  the  past  tense  into  the  future,  in  the  i>roccs-vcrhal  of 
the  coronation  of  Na^ioleon  and  Josephine. 


268  SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

love  of  life  with  some,,  and  a  real  fanatical  devo- 
tion with  a  larger  number,  guaranteed,  beforehand, 
the  spontaneity  and  unanimity  of  these  acclama- 
tions. Among  the  common  people,  especially,  the 
enthusiasm,  excited  by  the  dances,  the  noise  of  the 
tamborines,  cymbals,  bells,  and  the  cannonade, 
became  delirious.  Moreover,  on  this  occasion,  a 
profound  sentiment  of  pride  mingled  with  it ;  for 
8oulouque  was,  certainly,  the  first  pcqoa-vaudoux , 
who  Had  had  the  honors  of  a  coronation, — and,  of 
a  coronation  exactly  like  that  of  Napoleon, — that 
demi-god  of  negroes. 

The  music  of  the  grand  mass  was,  by  turns,  ex- 
ecuted on  trumpets,  clarinets,  cymbals,  and  the 
tambours  of  the  Imperial  guard — a  formidable  or- 
chestra, which  would  give  the  tooth-ache  to  a  dead 
man — and,  by  the  musicians  of  their  majesty's 
chapel,  which  was  composed,  of  a  first  and  second 
master,  of  twenty-five  chevaliers ;  together,  present- 
ing an  efiective  of  eleven  violins,  three  violoncellos, 
a  clarinet,  seven  flutes,  two  cornet-a-pistons ,  and 
hut  a  single  singer,  the  chevalier  Theogene  de  Poule 
— and,  finally,  twenty-four  hnigliVs  ladies.  Some 
of  these  performers  had  real  merit ;  but,  in  the 
choice  of  others,  there  was  much  more  regard  paid 
to  birth,  than  to  talents  ;  and  harmony  was,  only, 
in  the  hearts  of  the  latter.  At  the  ofiertory,  the 
Abbe  Cessens  received,  from  their  Majesties'  own 
hands,  two  wax-tapers,  incrusted  with  thirteen 
pieces  of  gold  ;  besides,  a  loaf  of  silver,  and  a  loaf 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS  EMPIRE.  269 

of  gold,  and  a  vase.  These  five  offerings  were 
borne,  by  a  princess  and  four  duchesses,  escorted 
by  an  equal  number  of  counts. 

Let  us  pass  over  the  ruinous  magnificence,  which 
for  eight  days,  celebrated  this  coronation  ;  but  the 
bill  of  expenses  did  not  even  stop  there.  Some  time 
afterwards,  the  Haytien  Chambers  voted,  for  the 
consecration  of  the  Abbe  Cessens,  250  thousand 
gourdes,  (1,250,000  francs)  ;  appropriated,  both  to 
meet  unforseen  expenses,  and  because  (said  this 
model  parliament)  ''it  is  becoming  the  dignity  of 
the  nation,  to  surround  with  every  hind  of  consid- 
eration,  the  Sovereign  who  enjoys  its  love  and 
sympatliy." 


12 


XIV. 

The  principle  of  authority  in  Hayti — The  Secret  of  Soulouque. 

Every  one  lias  considered  Soulouque' s  elevation 
to  Empire,  only  from  its  comic  side.  Some  Ameri- 
can journals  thought  tliey  discovered  in  it,  nothing 
less  than  the  first  official  manifestation,  of  the 
schemeof  a  black  confederation,  which  would  group, 
about  the  Haytien  nucleus,  the  slave  and  enfran- 
chised populations  of  the  other  Antilles.  It  is, 
indeed,  possible_,  that  the  colored  men  of  Gaude- 
loupe  had  dreamed  of  some  such  thing,  before  the 
scenes  of  April  1848^  which  edified  them  as  to  Sou- 
louque's  tenderness  for  the  men  of  color.  It  was, 
moreover,  possible,  that  this  idea  had  originated  at 
Paris,  in  the  brains  of  certain  mono-maniac  negro- 
pholists  ;  in  whose  opinion,  emancipation  would 
not  be  complete,  until  they  should  see,  in  our  colo- 
nies,— widowed  of  every  vestige  of  European  civili- 
zation,— white  or  mulatto  slaves  expire  under  the 
lash  of  black  planters.  Finally,  in  proof  of  this 
it  appears,  that,  in  the  Spring  of  1849,  the  black 
insurgents  of  Sainte-Lucie  assailed  the  Governor's 
palace,  and  burned  some  dwellings,  to  the  cry  of 
^'Vive  Soidouquef"     But  the  man,  who  had  lent 


SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS    EMPfRE.  2^1 

liis  name  to  those  vague  designs,  was  certainly  the 
last  person  who  would  have  had  a  hand  in  them. 

On  learning  the  part,  these  stupid  or  culpable 
expectations  had  assigned  him,  Soulouque  mani- 
fested as  much  irritation  as  fear,  and  exclaimed  : 
''This  is  another  turn  of  tliese  mulatto  rascals ,  in 
order  to  embroil  me  with  France  and  England — 
indeed,  with  all  the  world  !"  As  to  Soulouque's 
subjects,  the  idea  of  demanding  from  abroad  the 
benefits  of  a  solidarity  of  their  race,  was,  if  possi- 
ble, still  more  foreii^rn  than  it  was  with  him.  To 
give  only  one  proof  of  it ;  the  news  of  emancipa- 
tion decreed  in  1848  in  our  colonies — news  wliich  it 
would  seem  ought  to  have  aftbrded  real  joy  to  the 
future  Emperor,  was  received  by  him  with  absolute 
indifference.  He,  only,  concerned  himself  about 
tlie  negroes. 

Since  we  are  tranquilised  on  this  subject,  we  can 
speak  in  a  friendly  way  of  this  Emperor,  without 
parallel,  and  of  this  Empire  without  an  equal. 

The  first  question,  whicli  presents  itself,  is  that 
of  duration  ;  and  this,  appears  to  us,  settled  in 
favor  of  Faustin  1st.  The  three  preceding  black 
despots  had  fallen,  without  doubt,  by  tlie  coalition 
of  like  hatreds  and  terrors  as  those  wliich  Sou- 
louque has  accumulated  about  himself  for  the  past 
seven  years.  But  Toussaint,  Dessalines  and  Chris- 
tophe  were  surrounded,  by  the  Generals  of  the  war 
of  Independeuce  ;  that  is,  by  so  much  of  the  infliu- 
ence  of  a  rivalry,    which   tlie   remembrance  of  a 


272  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

long  continued  equality,  rendered  imjiaticnt  of  the 
restraints  im})0sed  by  the  capricious  tyrannies  of 
the  very  one  of  them,  they  had  made  their  master  ; 
and  who,  as  each  wielded  an  authority,  without 
limit,  over  that  portion  of  the  army,  they  had  or- 
ganized, were  perfectly  prepared  to  manifest  their 
rancor  in  rebellion.  There  was  nothing  like  this 
about  Soulouque.  Perfectly  unknown  until  the 
very  day,  that  an  electoral  expedient  raised  him 
to  supreme  power,  he  exercised,  over  his  trembling 
entourage,  the  ascendancy  of  surprise  and  mystery  ; 
and  tlie  illusion  was  so  complete,  as  it  descended 
from  tlie  beginning  on  his  character,  that  it  even 
impressed  upon  the  general  weakness,  tlie  exag- 
gerated aspect  of  every  reaction. 

In  the  second  place  ;  the  warlike  and  disci])lined 
generation,  of  the  three  epochs,  of  which  we  are 
treating — that,  which  the  old  aggregation  of  the 
work-shops  had  grouped,  in  compact  and  distinct 
masses,  about  each  chief — had  com2:)letely  disap- 
peared. A  long  peace  was  sufficient,  besides,  to 
prevent  the  reconstruction  of  the  great  military 
influences  of  former  times.  The  greater  part  of 
the  actual  Generals  were  only  so,  in  name  and  by 
a  fiction,  which  consisted  in  assimilating  the  ])rin- 
cipal  civil  functions,  to  corresponding  military 
grades  ;  and  with  regard  to  the  real  Generals, 
they  shared  the  immense  unpopularity,  which  now 
burthened  the  military  service.    The  Haytien  army 


SOULOUQUB    AND    HIS    EMPIRE.  273 

has  been  increased  to  more  than  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men,  out  of  a  population  of  a  half  million* 
of  souls,  in  which  the  women  figure  at  least  for 
tlirce-fifths ;  this  is  equivalent  to  an  effective, 
quintuple  that  of  our  own.  We  can  understand 
how  intolerable  such  a  military  system  is  in  a 
country,  where  thirty  years  of  absolute  unrestraint 
has  rendered  the  masses  unaccustomed  to  all  de- 
pendence on  each  other — where,  the  absence  of  in- 
dustry, and  the  systematic  division  of  property, 
binds  almost  all  the  sturdy  men,  to  the  soil — and 
Avhere  the  facilities  of  concubinage,  now  the  recog- 


*In  his  "  Geography  of  the  Island  of  Hayti,"  published  in  1832, 
M.  A.  Ardouin  inclines  to  the  figure  of  *700,000  souls;  of  which,  he 
assigns  125,000  to  the  Spanish  part  of  the  Island,  which  leaves 
SVS.OOO  to  the  French  part.  But  the  author,  at  the  same  time,  in- 
dicates the  tendency  of  the  country  people  to  flow  into  the  cities, 
where  the  hygienic  conditions  are  very  inferior.  But,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  estimate  at  75,000  souls  the  deficit,  which  should  result,  as 
much  from  this  increase  of  the  causes  of  mortality,  as  from  the  civil 
troubles  of  1842  and  1843;  from  eight  years  of  war  with  the  Do- 
minicans; and,  finally,  from  the  conclusive  facts  of  emigration, 
and  executions,  since  the  IGth  of  April,  1848.  All  exact,  or  even, 
approximative  estimates  of  the  population  are,  moreover,  impos- 
sible. The  country  blacks,  who  attach  a  high  importance  to  having 
their  children  baptized,  bury  the  greater  number  of  their  dead,  as  a 
compensation,  after  the  idolatrous  rites ;  so  that  the  civil  list  being 
in  the  hands  of  the  clerg}'.  is  not  registered  with  any  accuracy,  ex- 
cept the  number  of  births,  which  renders  all  comparative  estimate 
impossible.  The  number  of  births  taken,  separateh',  would  be  a 
basis  of  calculation  quite  as  uncertain  ;  for  it  is  a  notorious  fact, 
that  the  mortality  of  infants  is  much  greater,  in  Ilayti,  than  any 
where  else. 


274  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIUE. 

m'zed  condition,*  have  imposed  upon  each  of  them 
family  ties. 

The  enticement  of  a  month's  pay  of  four  gourdes 
(at  the  rate  per  day  of  one  franc  fifty  centimes) 
out  of  Avhicli,  the  liaytien  soldier  must  lodge,  feed, 
and,  in  part,  equip,  himself,  is  not  of  a  nature  to 
overcome  this  legitimate  repugnance.     Not  being 
put  in  barracks,  they  can,  in  truth,  dispose  of  their 
time,    between    the    periods    of  service  ;    and    the 
greater    number  of  them,   take   this  service  very 
much  at  tlieir  ease.     Nothing  is  more  common,  for 
instance,  than   to  see,   in  a  vacant  sentry-box,  a 
peaceable  gun  watching,  all  alone^  over  the  safety 
of  the  Empire.     Do  they  project  another  expedi- 
tion against  the  Dominicans? — the  whole  body  of 
the  black  army  gather  with  an   enthusiasm,  dif- 
ficult to  describe,  at  the  distribution  of  provisions 
and  cartridges  ;  and  the  soldiers,  are  no  sooner  on 
the  march,  than  they  desert,  right  and  left  of  the 
way,   by   bands  ;    taking   the    air,  in   the   woods, 
while  the  provisions  last ;  and  wasting,  foolishly, 
their  cartridges  in    petards.      Tliis  relaxation  of 
discipline  exhibits  the  little  moral  authority,  which 
the  Generals  now  enjoy  ;  and  as,  by  some  remain- 
ing  scrupulousness,  the  deserters  think  they  are 
bound  to  hide  themselves^  or,  at  least,  to  buy  the 
indulgence  of  their  chiefs,  they  experience  towards 


*Out  of  2,015  births  shown  l)y  the  Moniteur  Hayticn  of  the  10th 
of  August,  1850,  in  some  localities  tjikcu  at  hazard,  there  -were 
only  eighty-four  legitimate  children;  a  little  less  than/o«r  ;;fr  ccni. 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  275 

tliesGj  a  sentiment,  in  wliicli,  the  hatred  of  the  of- 
fender, is  augmented  by  the  hatred  of  the  debtor.* 
Free  from  tlie  influence  of  these  rivalries,  in 
which  were  personified,  hy  turns,  the  compLairits 
raised  by  Toussaint,  Dessalines,  and  Christophe, 
Soulouque  had,  besides,  a  point  of  support  which 
these  had  not.  Toussaint  and  Christophe,  with 
tlieir  party,  being  violently  taken  with  civilization, 
repelled  unmercifully  the  vaudoux ;  and  Dessa- 
lines, in  spite  of  his  sincere,  or  affected,  fondness 
for  African  savagery,  was  liimself  embroiled  with 
the  2^cfpas.  Being  then  only  General,  he  had  him- 
self ^'physiced,"  on  the  day  of  battle,  by  one  of 
them  ; — that  is,  his  body  was  covered  with  amu- 
lets, designed  to  render  it  invulnerable  ;  but,  all 
physiced  as  he  was^  he  Avas,  exactly,  wounded  at 
the  first  fire.  Furious  at  this,  Dessalines  beat  his 
sorcerer,  with  his  own  hands,  and  made  liim  re- 
turn the  ten  Portuguese  dollars  paid  for  tlie  con- 
sultation ;  and  declared,  from  that  day,  that  the 
papas  were  only  a  set  of  odious  intriguers. f     Sou- 

*  About  the  end  of  December,  1847,  the  Dominicans  having 
stopped  on  the  Haytien  territory,  Honlouqne  sent  against  tliem  three 
regiments,  Avhich,  at  llie  time  tlicy  marched,  presented  together  an 
effective  strcngtli  of  only  VOO  men,  aUhou^h  each  regiment  is  or- 
ganized with  about  GOO  men.  After  the  first  distribution  of  rations, 
five-sixths  of  the  sohliers  were  absent,  at  the  call ;  one  of  the  regi- 
ments was  found  reduced  even  to  jlj'Ucn  soldiers,  and  forty-three 
officers. 

t  On  another  occasion,  Dessalines,  then  inspector  general  of  Avor- 
ships,  learned  that  a  vaudoux  council  was  held  in  the  plain  of  Cul- 


276  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIllE. 

louqne,  whose  tyranny  was-,  on  the  contrary,  only 
a  vaudoux  reaction,  has,  in  the  innumerable  ad- 
herents of  this  negro  free-masonry,  as  many  spies 
as  decoys,  ready  to  apprise  him  of  the  least  symptom 
of  conspiracy,  or  to  create,  by  a  mute  understand- 
ing, a  void  about  the  conspirators  ; — as  witness  the 
sudden  and  profound  indifference,  with  which  the 
fall  of  Similien  was  received.  And  yet,  by  reason 
of  the  boldness  with  wliich  his  old  familiarity  with 
the  President  inspired  him,  and  by  his  rank  in  the 
presidential  guard  which  had  become  the  last 
centre  of  that  esprit-de-corps ,  that  formerly  ren- 
dered military  revolutions  so  easy, — Similien  was 
the  onl}^  person  who  filled  the  two  conditions  neces- 
sary to  repeat,  in  opposition  to  Soulouque,  the  part 
which  was,  successively,  played  by  Dessalines 
and  Christophe  against  Toussaint ;  by  Christophe 
against  Dessalines  ;  and  by  Eichard  against  Chris- 
tophe. 

Soulouque,  therefore,  for  the  time,  had  no  con- 
spiracy to  fear  ;  for  the  instrument  and  the  subject 
— the  army  and  the  masses — were  wanting  for  such 


de-Sac,  under  the  pi'esidencj  of  an  old  black  woman — and  that  a 
great  number  of  farmers  had  left  their  work  to  be  present.  He 
surrounded  the  place  of  meeting  with  a  battalion ;  dispersed  the 
assembly  by  firing  into  it ;  and  having  taken  fifty  prisoners,  had 
them  bayonetted  immediately.  M.  Thomas  Madiou  who  relates 
this  fact,  adds  :  Toussaint  held  in  horror  every  thing  pertaining  to 
vaudoux ;  he  often  said  that  he  spoke  through  his  nose,  only  be- 
cause the  vaudoux  had  thrown  some  spells  on  him. 


SOULOUQUE  AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  27'r 

a  conspiracy.  Not  being  able  to  believe  in  treachery 
where  treason  was  powerless,  every  suspect,  finally, 
considered  real  tlie  noisy  evidences  of  devotion, 
which  terror  created  about  him  ;  and  if  some  timid 
desire  of  deliverance  sprang  up,  here  and  there,  in 
their  hearts,  we  can  affirm,  that  there  was  not  in 
all  Hayti,  two  men,  two  friends,  even  two  parents, 
sufficiently,  sure  of  each  other,  to  venture  an  inter- 
change of  their  opinions.  A  double,  a  triple  es- 
pionage, that  often  changed  the  informer  into  the 
accused,  proved  but  too  surely,  moreover,  the  uni- 
versal distrust,  which  was  practiced  at  even  the 
distance  of  two  thousand  leagues.  The  proscribed 
Haytiens,  whom  we  questioned,  invariably  replied, 
by  praising  Soulouque ;  as  though,  they  feared 
that  the  reflux  of  the  Alan  tic  would  bear  back,  to 
the  illiterate  old  negro,  who  reigned  over  their 
vacant  firesides,  some  involuntary  sign  of  disap- 
probation, in  order  that  the  invisible  vengeance  of 
the  master  might  be  visited  upon  them  here. 

The  very  excess  of  this  fear  produced  everywhere 
else,  some  outbursts  of  individual  despair  ;  but, 
though  the  incentive  of  ambition  was  wanting, 
that  of  vengenance  was  not  less  to  be  dreaded  by 
Soulouque.  In  the  prostration  of  that  yellow  and 
black  bourgeoisie,  which  seemed  to  have  only  the 
courage  to  die,  all  was  not  really  compulsion  and 
stupor.  There  was,  also,  much  of  that  veneration, 
instinctive  in  the  African,  for  the  hand  which 
strikes  him,  or  the  foot  which  tramples  him  under. 


278  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

Despotism  existed  in  tlieir  manners,  before  it  was 
developed  in  state  affairs  ;  and  I  will  give  a  single 
proof  of  it.  During  tlie  butcher}"  of  tlie  mulattoes, 
at  Saint-Marc,  by  the  orders  of  Cbristopbe,  a  Gen- 
eral, to  exhibit  his  obedience,  slew  with  his  own 
hands  his  wife  and  children.  But  unreasonable  as 
he  was  in  this  point,  Christophe,  himself,  thought 
that  it  was  an  excess  of  obedience,  and  with  a  vio- 
lent blow  of  his  cane,  some  say, — and  with  a  kick, 
say  others, — he  knocked  out  one  of  the  murderer's 
eyes.  The  thought  of  this  abominable  devotion, 
which,  everywhere  else,  would  be  but  baseness  ap- 
proaching idiotism — this  thought,  found  a  place 
in  a  mind,  if  not  the  most  cultivated,  at  least  the 
most  upright,  the  most  firm,  and  the  most  eager 
for  civilization,  which  had  arisen  for  long  years 
past,  in  the  ranks  of  the  black  caste.  This  Gen- 
eral was,  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  future 
President  Kiche — the  predecessor  of  Soulouque,  and 
the  man  of  adoption  by  the  enlightened  class  of  the 
country,  who  have  wept  him,  (we  can  say  without 
metaphor,)  with  tears  of  blood. 

A  class  so  indulgent  to  the  fanaticism  of  servility 
was  evidently  capable  of  experiencing  it,  more  or 
less,  on  their  own  account.  This  predisposition 
did  not,  even,  await  the  stimulus  of  fear,  to  be  re- 
vealed in  them :  thus,  under  the  regime  of  an 
ultra-democratic  constitution,  whilst  Soulouque  was 
only  President,  the  warmest  advocate  of  equality, 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  2*79 

thought  it  very  natural  and  regular,  that,  at  the 
formal  dinners,  ho  should  have  himself  served  by 
Generals,  placed  behind  liis  chair.      Among  the 
penitent    revolutionists,    who,    moreover,    exalted 
tlie  principle  of  authority,  were  there  not  many  of 
them  that  pushed  their  sincerity,  even,  to  chang- 
ing his  plates?     Terror   has,  therefore,  done  no 
more  tliere,  than  stimulate  a  tendency  inherent  in 
the   public   mind   of  Hayti ;  and  whose  outward 
maniibstation  does  not  imply  any  inward  revolt. 
His  black  Majesty  has  even  subjected,  with  impu- 
nity, the  monarchical  sentiment  of  his  subjects  to 
some  very  rude  tests.     To  conceal  nothing — Sou- 
louque,    (in    comparison    with    whom    the   chaste 
Hippolyte    was,   not   long   before,   open-breasted ; 
and  whom  we  have  seen,  up  to  1849,  especially  in 
his  bloody  expedition  to  the  South,  repel,  with  vir- 
tuous horror,  the  female  enticements,  which  enthu- 
siasm and  often,  alas  !  fear  excited,  on  his  march) 
— Soulouque,  since  he  has  become  Emperor,  seems 
quite  decided  to  take,  literally,  the  intrepid  rhetori- 
cal figure,  by  which  certain  official  addresses  have 
designated  him — ilie  father  of  Jiis  peojole.     No  lady 
of  the  court,  they  say,  will  be  long  sheltered  from 
the  formidable  attentions  of  Faustin.     And  if  I 
reveal  these  intimate  details,  it  is  only  properly  to 
state  that  this  is  not  vice  in  his  estimation.    The'idea 
of  domination,  especially  of  royalty,  being  insep- 
erable  in   the  African  mind,  from  that  of  discrc- 


280  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

tionary*  power,  Souloiique  really  only  sees  in  this 
matter  one  of  the  thousand  superb  privileges,  be- 
longing to  his  position  as  Emperor;  and  he  exer- 
cises this  right,  with  the  double  security,  of  a  pure 
conscience,  and  an  iron-constitution ;  another  guar- 
antee of  stability,  which  we  must  take  into  ac- 
count. Those  who  speculate,  on  the  natural  death 
of  Faustin,  risk  having  to  wait  so  much  longer, 
because  he  practices  a  proverbial  sobriety,  with  re- 
gard to  rum — that  slow  poison  of  the  negroes, 
which  kills  them  toward  the  hundreth  year. 

From  all  these  guarantees  of  security  and  dura- 
bility, there  would  have  resulted  anywhere  else  a 
reaction  of  clemenc}^  :  unfortunately,  Soulouque 
continues  to  show  himself,  as  inexorable  and  sus- 
picious, as  in  the  very  height  of  the  crisis  of  1848. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  accession  to  the  throne,  a 
proclamation,  made  the  fusion  of  all  hearts  the 
order  of  the  day,  and  advised  the  citizens,  to  join 
the  hand  of  reconciliation  over  the  altar  of  their  coun- 
try. Some  i^ersons  ventured  to  take  the  thing  lite- 
rally^ and  timidly  expressed  to  His  Majesty,  tliat, 
at  least,  in  carrying  the  altar  of  the  country  from 
prison  to  prison,  their  bolts  and  walls  would  be  an 


*Here  is  another  shade  of  this  negro  interpretation  of  the  right 
of  domination.  After  the  scenes  of  April,  the  friends  of  Sirailien, 
would  occasionally  through  idleness  drop  into  the  shops,  and  say 
to  the  merchants  "wives,  with  the  most  natural  tone  imaginable: 
"You,  please  me;  and  when  Ave  shall  have  killed  your  husbands, 
you  will  become  our  wives." 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  281 

insurmountable  obstacle,  to  the  required  hand-shak- 
ing. But  at  this  simple  mention  of  an  amnesty, 
Soulouque  exhibited  the  angry  horror  of  a  miser, 
upon  whom  they  prevailed  to  expend,  in  a  day,  the 
patient  savings  of  a  year.  Since  then,  let  us  re- 
mark, he  has  been  so  much  the  less  able  to  enter- 
tain the  idea  of  clemency  because  his  deference  for 
monarchical  modes  and  precedents  seem  to  dictate 
to  him,  that  he  would  have  the  benefit  of  it,  with- 
out the  cost.  In  fact,  there  is  not  a  single  official 
rejjast  given  at  the  palace,  at  which  Faustin  1st 
does  not  bridle  up,  during  dessert,  to  su6h  toasts 
as  the  following  :  ^^To  the  magnanimity  of  the  hero  ! 
To  the  clemency  of  the  great  man!'' 

Keaction  could,  scarcely,  be  produced  in  Hayti 
except  from  Rome.  But  for  the  audacious  decep- 
tion practiced,  by  the  Abbe  Cessens,  it,  assuredly, 
only  depended  on  the  Holy  See,  to  take  advantage 
of  the  ardent  desire,  this  negro  monarch  felt,  to  be 
crowned,  to  benefit  the  innumerable  suspects  con- 
fined, without  trial,  in  the  prisons  ;  it  was  only 
necessary  to  have  made  an  amnesty  the  first  condi- 
tion of  this  coronation.  Even  now,  if  a  concordat 
should  put  an  end  to  the  monstrosities  above  de- 
scribed— if  in  place  of  the  scandalous  adventurers, 
wlio,  in  order  to  have  their  irregularities  tolerated, 
are  often  the  first  to  flatter  the  fantasies  of  Sou- 
louque — a  real  clergy,  so  much  the  more  respected 
because  it  would  have  the  benefit  of  the  contrast, 
should  make  the  counsels  of  humanity  and  good 


282  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

sense  heard  by  this  brute,  but  not  depraved  nature, 
it  would  not  be  necessary  to  despair,  perhaps,  of 
clemency.  The  character  of  Soulouque  offers,  in 
fact,  resources  valuable  to  every  civilizing  influence, 
which  will  be  in  a  situation  to  profit  by  them.  I 
will  put  in  the  first  rank^  an  extreme  respect  for 
foreign  opinion  ; — a  respect,  w^hich  penetrates  the 
natural  dissimulations  of  his  black  majesty  ;  which 
renders  it  sensitive  beyond  all  expression,  to  the 
pleasantries  of  the  French  and  American  journals  ; 
and  which  has  often  succeeded  in  controlling  him, 
even,  in*his  most  sanguinary  transpoi-ts  of  rage  ;  as 
witness  the  success,  with  which  our  Consul-Greneral 
touched  this  spring  in  1848. 

Soulouque  has,  (which  I  believe  I  before  stated,) 
in  addition  to  the  good  traits  of  natural  suspicion, 
an  instinctive  deference  for  all  advice,  the  disinter- 
estedness of  which,  he  cannot  suspect ;  and  hence, 
again,  tlie  ascendency  of  the  French  consul,  when 
pleading  the  cause  of  a  class,  which,  with  a  small 
number  of  exceptions,  had  previously  set  up  as  a 
matter  of  policy,  hatred  to  France  and  Frenchmen. 
The  influence  then,  a  foreign  agent,  whose  inter- 
ference in  their  domestic  aflairs,  loyal  and  well 
conducted  as  it  may  be,  must  always  produce  some 
umbrage,  has  been  able  to  obtain  accidentally, 
might  not  a  serious  clergy — a  body  wbose  inter- 
vention would  not  be  offensive,  because  it  would  be 
exclusively  moral,  and  moreover,  anticipated  and 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  283 

accepted, — obtain  more  easily  still,  and  in  a  mea- 
sure more  lasting  ? 

The  day,  that  a  steady  liglit  of  humanity  sliall 
penet]-ate  this  darkness  of  savagery — Avlien  Soulou- 
que  shall  be  able  to  comprehend,  that  to  breathe 
and  walk  are  not  political  crimes,  and  that  the  only 
ambition  of  tlie  class  he  fears,  is  neither  to  be  im- 
prisoned, nor  shot — on  that  day,  all  things  con- 
sidered, Hayti  will  be,  theoretically,  nearer  to 
civilization,  than  it  has  ever  been.  Let  us  not 
forget ;  althougli  he  may  have  sprung  from  the 
midst  of  tlie  mulattoes,  only  to  enter  among  the 
ultra-blacks,  and  hence  has  not  ceased  to  suffer  from 
the  contact  of  anti-French  influences,  Soulouque 
is,  with  Riche,  the  only  Haytien  chief,  which  has, 
if  not  understood,  at  least  felt  the  necessity  of  en- 
couraging, and  retaining  our  countrymen.*  But 
it  was  because  of  its  hatred  and  distrust  of  French- 
men, that  Hayti  refused  the  right  of  property  to  the 

*  He  has  even  more  merit  in  this  particular  than  Riche,  who  was 
not  beset  lilve  him,  by  the  ultra-black  minority,  and  who  was  en- 
couraged in  his  civilizing  tendencies,  on  one  side,  by  a  few  men  of 
the  young  mulatto  generation,  who,  in  this  respect,  were  much  more 
intelligent  than  their  predecessors ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  by  some 
enlightened  blacks,  among  others,  his  minister,  U.  Larochel.  The 
opposite  happened  to  Soulouque.  If  some  men  secretly  deplored 
that  their  country  was  not  open  to  white  civilization,  they  concealed 
it,  or  even  pretended  to  join  the  clamors  of  the  ultra-black  party, 
in  order  not  to  attract  upon  themselves  the  suspicions  of  this  terri- 
ble party.  Soulouque,  besides,  had  to  struggle,  in  his  own  council, 
against  the  anti-French  objections  of  his  minister  of  finance,  M. 
Salomon,  a  well-instructed  and  very  able  black. 


284  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

whites  ;  and,  if  our  old  colony,  wliicli  ^ ^exported 
annually  four  hundred  millions  of  pounds  of  sugar, 
no  longer  makes  more  than  enough  for  the  wants 
of  its  sick  ;"  if,  after  having  given  to  its  metropolis, 
an  annual  excess  of  near  twenty-two  millions  of 
francs,  it  now  returns,  with  great  difficulty,  to  its 
own  treasury  only  six  to  seven  millions ;  if  its  money, 
only,  circulates  for  the  ffteentli  of  its  nominal 
value  ;  if  the  little  coin,  which,  usury  causes  to 
circulate  on  the  sea-coast,  is  hurdened  with  an  in- 
terest varying  from  36  to  365  per  cent ;  if,  finall}^, 
near  the  middle  of  1847,  hefore  the  ultra-hlack 
panic,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  complete  reac- 
tion of  security,  a  plantation  of  fifty  arpents^  well 
situated,  and  in  great  part  set  with  coffee-trees — 
that  is,  in  full  operation — was  found  only  to  realize 
a  tliousand  francs — it  is  to  the  ridiculous  and  savage 
exclusion,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  that  this  relapse 
into  harharism  must  he  ahove  all  attrihutable. 

The  black  insurrection  inherited  only  the  waste 
it  had  made.  European  immigration  could  alone 
replace,  in  old  Saint-Domingo,  the  elements  of 
labor  and  commerce,  which  disappeared  from  it, 
with  our  colonists.  It,  alone,  could  bring  back 
there  capital,  tlie  proceeds  of  cultivation  and  manu- 
facturing, the  experience  and  the  commercial  rela- 
tions necessary^ — to  revive  the  sugar-houses, — to 
])lace  local  production  in  a  situation  to  contend  with 
the  increasing  competition,  which  was  caused,  by 
the  agricultural  and  mechanical  ameliorations  in- 


SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  285 

troduced,  by  European  activity,  in  the  other  An- 
tilles— to  restore  to  this  production  its  former  outlets 
— to  substitute,  in  fine,  for  the  fatal  expedient  of 
a  continued  emission  of  notes,  the  norinal  resources 
of  an  increase  of  revenue.  The  disposition,  which 
Soulouque  exhibited  with  regard  to  the  whites,  in 
general,  and  the  French  in  particular,  would  have 
been,  therefore,  an  augury  of  veritable  regenera- 
tion to  Hayti  ;  if  in  this,  as  apropos  of  the  piquets, 
as  apropos  of  the  amnesty,  and  always  for  the  want 
of  an  enlightened  and  acceptable  arbitration,  which 
might  have  rescued  at  the  proper  time,  the  civili- 
zing purpose  or  instinct,  from  those  savage  preju- 
dices which  neutralized  them,  it  would  not  have 
been  necessary  to  be  satisfied,  again_,  with  the  rule 
Avithout  the  application — with  the  principle  without 
its  consequence.  Although,  it  was  only  necessary 
for  him  to  frown,  to  destro}^  tliis  combination  of 
savagery  and  fear,  which  perpetuated,  twenty-five 
years  after  the  foreign  recognition  of  Haytien  in- 
dependence, an  isolation  thenceforth  without  pre- 
text, Soulouque  made,  or  allowed  to  be  introduced 
into  his  imperial  constitution,  the  article  prohibit- 
ing whites  from  acquiring  real  estate  in  Hayti. 

Soulouque  had  not  even  the  logic  of  his  despot- 
ism. This  strange  constitutional  Emperor  would, 
most  certainly,  have  had  shot,  and  with  the  best 
faith  in  the  world,  whosoever  had  dared  to  assert, 
that  the  Goverment  was  not  Faustin  1st;  and  it  is 
not  too  much  to  wish,  that  he  would  carry  his  imi- 


286  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

tation  of  Christoplie,  in  this  respect^  even  to  the 
end  ;  who,  setting  out  from  the  same  idea,  believed 
that  it  was  his  interest,  at  least,  to  administer  the 
finances  of  the  Government,  as  a  good  proprietor  ; 
but  no.  Jealous  of  accumulating  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  cases,  the  profits  of  tlie  most  contradictory 
situations,  Faustin  1st,  carried  into  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  country,  which  he  considered  as  his 
l^erpetual  patrimony,  tlie  improvident  greediness 
of  a  transient  revolutionist. 

The  Government  is  charged  with  clothing  the 
troops;  and,  under  this  pretext,  Soulouque,  who  is 
awarded  the  office  of  furnisher-general,  purchases 
constantly,  hundreds  of  pieces  of  cloth  at  fictitious 
prices — often  double,  and  even  triple,  their  real 
value ;  which  (to  use  a  common  expression),  is 
equivalent  to  saying,  that  his  black  Majesty  makes 
the  goose  jump  from  his  own  basket.  The  mili- 
tary stores  are  filled  with  cloth,  which  they  con- 
stantly ofter,  (and  it  is  always  accepted,  thanks  to 
the  allurement  of  this  profit,)  at  from  one  to  tico 
hundred  per  cent.  It  is  Avell  known  that,  notwith- 
standing this  profusion  of  cloth,  the  formidable 
Empire  of  Hayti  continues  to  exliibit  the  bizarre 
phenomenon  of  an  army  dressed  in  rags.  The 
favorite  officials  of  the  day,  naturally  have  their 
share  in  the  plunder,  which  includes  all  the  Gov- 
ernment supplies.  At  first,  Soulouque,  alarmed 
by  the  invasion  of  this  famished  band  of  highest 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  28*7 

bidders,  Avho  followed  on  liis  steps,  repelled  tliem 
en  masse ;  but  since,  he  has  allowed  himself  to  be 
bent, — and  is  satisfied  to  levy  a  profit,  of  from 
thirt}^  to  forty  per  cent.,  on  every  transaction  of 
the  kind  he  permits. 

Besides,  he  has  rather  gained  than  lost,  by  this 
division  of  profits  ;  because  the  piquets  in  favor, 
and  their  friends,  have  become  so  many  courtiers, 
whose  inventive  avidity  is  able  to  ferret  gold  out 
of  transactions,  in  which  His  Majesty,  often  thought, 
he  had  made  a  clean  sweep.  Some  individuals 
found  out  the  secret,  of  stealing  from  the  plunder 
itself.  We  will  cite,  for  instance,  that  such  sup- 
plies, as  have  to  pass  through  three  or  four  hands, 
are  sold  each  time  at  a  profit  of  eighty  to  one  hun- 
dred per  cent.,  before  reaching  the  military  stores. 
Soulouque  levied,  as  his  share,  60,000  francs,  in 
that  cause,  decided  in  favor  of  a  lady  of  his  ac- 
quaintance ;  and  Avho  had  to  pay,  in  consequence, 
fifteen  francs  to  the  Goverment  for  what  was  only 
worth  tour.* 


*  The  ramifications  of  public  peculation  did  not  ahvays  stop 
there.  Rather  than  permit  these  fabulous  supplies  of  cloth  to  rot, 
some  Generals  found  it  logical  to  resell  them,  for  their  own  benefit, 
t3  the  retailers  of  Port-au-Prince,  below  the  market  price  of  the 
fabric  ;  which  had  the  tri[)le  effect — of  depriving  the  treasury  of  the 
duties,  it  would  have  received  upon  the  same  quantity  of  cloth,  de- 
livered to  consumption,  in  the  regular  waj^ ;  of  creating  a  ruinous 
competition,  with  the  houses,  which  had  sujjplicd  themselves,  with 
similar  merchandise,  in  this  way  ;  and  finally,  of  diminishing  the 
(juantit y  of  goods  exchanged  with  those  abroad ; — that  is,  the  ex- 


288  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

If  Soulouque  would  employ  the  snras,  he  annu- 
ally monopolises,  to  create  plantations  and  sugar 
manufactories,  he  might,  perhaps,  congratulate 
himself,  on  tliis  concentration  of  capital,  in  one 
hand  ;  /o?',  it  is  by  the  absence,  or  dispersion  of 
productive  energy,  that  the  richest  and  best  situated 
of  the  Antilles,  has  become  the  most  uncultivated  and 
abandoned  of  all.  These  millions,  unfortunately, 
only  enter  the  imperial  money-chest,  to  be  sent 
directly  out  of  the  country  ;  and,  go  to  Paris,  Lon- 
don, or  Kew  York,  to  pay  for  the  splendid  caprices 
of  His  Majesty's  toilette.  Let  us  add  ;  in  his  in- 
corrigible mania  to  steal  himself,  Soulouque,  not 
satisfied  with  disjiosing  of  tlie  public  revenues,  at 
pleasure,  also,  smuggles,  like  any  other  common 
mortal,  in  order  that,  the  articles  purchased,  for 
his  own  use,  may  enter  without  paying  duties.* 

portation  of  domestic  products  suffered  by  the  legal  importation,  in 
proportion  to  the  deficit,  and  causes  of  depression. 

Since  this  was  written,  M.  Maximo  Raybaud  has,  moreover,  suc- 
ceeded in  imposing*  upon  Soulouque  an  arrangement,  which  has  the 
result  on  one  part,  of  protecting,  the  payment  of  the  colonial  in- 
demnity, from  the  fraudulent  tricks  that  the  interpretation  of  the 
convention  of  the  15th  of  May,  I84'7,  excited  ; — on  the  other  part, 
to  secure  the  payment  of  interest,  and  the  extinguishment  of  the 
Haytien  loan.  The  financial  wants,  whicli  this  double  obligation 
has  created,  will  put  a  stop  to  the  unreasonable  Avastes,  of  which  I 
have  spoken.  If  he  is  wanting  in  all  foresight,  and  capability  of 
generalization,  Soulouque  knows  how,  on  the  contrary,  to  yield  to 
the  pressure  of  an  immediate  necessity. 

*  To  the  passion  for  fine  clothes,  and  handsome  decorations,  Sou- 
louque, has  latterly  added  the  mania  for  building.     His  great  de- 


SOULOUQUE   AND   IIIS   EMPIRE.  289 

Soiilouqiic's  official  receipts  go  abroad,  like  his 
private  revenue,  and  are,  besides,  worse  employed 
there.  All,  he  does  not  retain  for  his  personal  ex- 
penses, is  spent  in  preparations  for  exterminating 
the  Dominicans  ;  especially  in  buying  American 
vessels,  often  out  of  service,  wliich  he  loads  with 
artillery,  as  thougli  he  desired  to  render  them  still 
more  incapable  of  sailing  ;  and  which  his  negro 
sailors  blow  up,  from  time  to  time,  body  and  goods, 
either  by  carelessness,  or  in  breaking  into  the 
powder-magazine  to  steal  the  wherewith  to  make 
fusees  and  crackers.  It  is  useless  to  show  that  such 
purchases,  besides  being  the  occasion  of  ruinous 
armaments,  are  of  a  nature,  too  unusual  to  en- 
courage the  current  of  exchanges  ;  and  constitutes 
a  wasting  loss  to  the  Haytien  treasury. 

A  system,  in  which  every  thing  combines,  on 
one  hand  to  increase  the  expenses,  and  on  the 
other  to  reduce,  at  once,  the  receipts,  and  the  capi- 
tal circulating  in  the  interior,  the  primary  cause  of 
these  receipts, — this  system  has,  necessarily,  but 
one  consequence :  the  continued  emission  of  notes. 
And  accordingly,  in  manufacturing  them  almost 

sire  is  to  possess  a  house  in  each  of  the  squares  of  Port-au-Prince. 
He  has  also  turned  his  attention  a  little  to  agriculture,  and  actually 
seeks  to  improve  a  considerable  plantation,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Capital,  which  the  nation  made  him  a  present  of.  Unfortunately, 
he  has  impressed  en  7iHi$se  for  this  operation,  and  in  the  name  of 
niilitar}'  service,  all  the  cultivators  of  the  banks  of  the  Artihonite, 
the  only  part  of  the  lOmpire,  where  agricultural  labor  is  not  entirely 
abandoned. 


290  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMrillE. 

without  intermivssion,  at  from  fifteen  to  tioenty-ftve 
thousand  gourdes  a  day,  is  di.splayed  in  all  its 
eclat  the  financial  genius  of  Soulouque, 

What  sustains,  as  I  have  remarked,  the  circula- 
tion of  this  fahulous  pa])or-money  is  the  fact,  that 
tlie  foreign  importers  have  still  the  goodness  to  re- 
ceive it  only  upon  the  sine-qua-non  condition  of, 
immediately,  exchanging  it,  and  on  the  spot^  for 
products  of  the  soil,  especially  coffee  and  dye- 
woods — which  are  now  almost  the  only  remaining 
branch  of  Haytien  export.  Simple  good  sense 
would,  therefore,  counsel  the  encouragement,  at 
any  price,  of  the  export  of  coifee,  in  order  to  coun- 
terbalance as  much  as  possible  the  causes  of  depre- 
ciation, with  which,  a  continued  and  unlimited 
emission  of  notes  burdens  the  representative  ex- 
pression of  this  production.  Soulouque  has  done 
just  the  contrary. 

The  socialist  experiment  of  monopoly  having 
resulted  in  destroying,  or  nearly  so,  the  metallic 
receipts  of  the  treasury^  by  putting  to  flight  foreign 
importation,  which  alone  nourished  them,  Sou- 
louque  imagined  in  1850  to  replace  them,  by 
natural  resources.  The  enticement  was  so  much 
the  more  tempting,  as  by  a  very  rare  coincidence, 
it  happened  that  very  year,  on  one  hand,  that  the 
crop  of  coffee  was  of  extraordinary  abundance  in 
Hayti — and  on  the  other,  that  coffee  was  very  much 
in  demand,  and  consequently  very  dear  in  the  mar- 
kets of  Europe.     At  the  same  time,  that  the  mo- 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  291 

nopoly  laws  were  repealed,  the  Haytien  govern- 
ment awarded  itself,  therefore,  the  right  of  taking 
for  its  own  henefit,  at  the  merchant-consignee's, 
the  fifth  of  the  coffee  designed  for  exportation,  at 
the  rate  of  fifty  goiirdes  the  qnintal — that  is,  nearly 
forty  per  cent,  below  the  current  price.  This  loss 
oi  forty  per  cent.,  assessed  on  the  five-fifths,  was 
explained,  as  to  the  mass  of  exported  coffee,  hy  a 
former  over-tax  of  eight  per  cent.;  hnt  this  was 
not  all. 

The  government  is  privileged  to  pay  for  this  fifth 
monopolized  by  it,  at  forty  per  cent,  below  the  cur- 
rent price  in  custom-house  goods,  which  it  agreed 
to  receive  in  payment  of  the  export  duties  due  on 
the  four* fifths  remaining  ;  but,  as  the  merchant  in 
possession  of  a  thousand  quintals,  for  example,  re- 
ceived in  payment  for  the  two  hundred  quintals 
taken  awa}^  by  the  government,  10,000  gourdes  in 
custom-house  goods,  then,  by  the  terms  of  the 
tariff,  it  was  only  entitled  to  6,400  gourdes,  as  the 
export  duty  of  the  remaining  eight  hundred  quin- 
tals, and  there  remained  some  3^600  gourdes  of  un- 
employed goods.  By  one  of  those  curiosities  of 
credit,  only  to  be  met  with  in  Hayti,  these  unem- 
ployed goods^  and  hence  without  value,  lost  in  the 
transaction  only  about  fifty  per  cent.;  v/hich,  on  a 
thousand  quintals  of  coffee,  worth  in  the  producing 
market  80,000  gourdes,  reduced  this  new  loss  to 
1 ,800  gourdes,  or  to  a  little  more  than  two  per  cent. 

This  two  per  cent,  added  to  the  eight  per  cent.. 


292  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

above-mentioned,  increased  to  more  than  ten  per 
cent,  the  over-tax,  with  which,  this  new  financial 
combination  of  M.  Salomon  has  oppressed  the 
whole  exportation  of  coffee.* 

But,  in  ordinary  times,  the  coffee  of  our  old 
colony,  although  of  excellent  quality,  was  formerly 
placed,  with  some  difficulty,  in  European  markets; 
which  was  attributed  to  the  imperfect  manner  of 
cleansing  it.  What  would  then  happen  when, 
being  no  longer  sustained, — at  the  place  of  pro- 
duction, because  of  low  rates  resulting  from  the 
excess  of  the  crop, — and  at  the  place  of  consump- 
tion, by  the  fluctuation  of  the  prices, — these  cof- 
fees, besides,  are  offered  in  European  markets,  with 
an  additional  charge  of  from  ten  to  eleven  per  cent.? 
The  consumer  would  not  wish  any  more  ;  the  ex- 
porter would  not  demand  any  more  ;  and  the  cul- 
tivator, (of  course,)  would  not  produce  any  more.f 


-'•This  financial  expedient  was,  to  be  sure,  the  occasion  of  new 
intrigues.  It  was  thus,  for  example,  that  the  sale  of  the  fifth  of  the 
crop  of  1850-'51  was  burdened  with  two  good-will  presents  of  five 
francs  each  per  quintal  of  a  hundred  pounds. 

t  To  speak  correctly,  they  did  not  gather  it  any  longer.  The  cul- 
tivation of  coffee  is  now  reduced,  indeed,  in  Saint-Domingo  to  the 
gathering  of  the  grains  wliich,  periodically,  fall  from  the  old  coffee 
trees,  not  a  single  one  of  whicli  is  renewed.  The  blacks  even  allow 
to  be  lost  on  the  spot,  a  portion,  more  or  less  considerable,  of  this 
precious  product — according  as  it  sells,  more  or  less  well,  in  Europe, 
and  as  there  is  wanted,  a  greater  or  less  quantity,  to  represent  the  few 
j^ards  of  cottonades  and  some  pounds  of  salt  meats,  required  by 
each  family,  from  foreign  commerce.  It  is  by  favor  of  the  margin 
left  by  this  excess,  that  the  export  of  the  coffee  of  the  country  can 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  293 

Sooner  or  later,  the  situation  of  things,  which  I 
have  described,  must  produce  its  extreme  conse- 
quences ;  but  they  are  inevitable,  if  this  partial 
monopoly  is  maintained.  Coffee  failing,  importers 
vrill  stop  their  shipments  ;  for  it  is  not  probable 
that  they  will  consent  to  exchange  cargoes  of  pro- 
visions, (meal,  fabrics,  &c.,)  for  cargoes  of  dye- 
woods,  which  vessels  never  take,  except  by  en- 
gagement, and  often  only  as  ballast.  Importation 
being  arrested,  the  circulation  of  the  pajyer-gourde, 
whicli  is  sustained  by  it  alone,  would  cease  also  ; 
so  much  the  more,  that  the  three  or  four  elements 
of  interior  trade  which  Hayti  possesses,  proceeds 
from  the  soil,  and  is  found  (considering  the  ex- 
treme division  of  proj>erty)  almost  always  reunited 
in  the  same  hand  ;  which  is  sufficient  to  paralyze 
barter. 

Deprived,  b}^  the  same  blow^  of  the  receipts  from 


still  resist  the  factitious  enhancement  of  price,  with  which  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  fifth  has  affected  it.  But  the  miracle  of  fertility,  of 
which  I  speak,  cannot  continue  indefinitely.  The  old  coffee-trees, 
and  their  young  shoots,  are  gradually  stifled  by  the  formidable 
power  of  the  vegetation  of  the  forests,  which  formerly  gave  them 
shelter ;  the  excess  in  question  will  disappear ;  production  will 
cease,  even  by  becoming  insufiicient,  whence  a  double  cause  of  real 
rise  in  price,  which  being  added  to  the  economical  consequences  of 
the  monopoly  of  the  fifth,  will  close  European  markets  to  Haytien 
coffee.  Only  one  method  will  then  remain  to  regain  these  markets  : 
the  renewal  of  the  plants.  But  the  blacks,  whom  the  prospect  of  an 
immediate,  and  certain,  profit  cannot  now  recover  from  their  apathy, 
will  not  issue  from  it  for  a  stronger  reason,  before  the  prospect  of  a 
hypothetical  and  remote  profit. 

13 


294  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

importations,  of  the  revenue  from  exportations, 
and  the  territorial  tax,  which  the  contributor  could 
no  longer  pay,  hut  in  rags  of  dirty  paper.  His 
Majesty,  would  have  but  one  resource  left  to  sus- 
tain, for  a  short  time  longer,  the  splendor  of  his 
throne  :  namely,  to  sell  Ids  counts,  dukes j  and  barons 
to  the  plantei's  of  Cuba  and  Porto- Rico.  As  to  the 
black  peasants,  from  the  moment  the  cessation  of 
these  commercial  transactions  shall  have  taken 
from  them,  all  chance  of  increasing  their  m^ans 
of  living  by  labor,  they  will  not  be  slow  to  shut 
themselves  up,  in  this  problem :  to  obtain  tlic 
necessaries  of  life  at  the  least  fatiguing  price  pos- 
sible. 

This  problem,  nine  Haytiens  in  ten  have  already 
proposed  to  themselves  ;  and  the  bananas  have  re- 
solved it.  I  have  heard  many  individuals  assert, 
that  this  solution  was  the  best ;  and  rejoice  over 
the  happiness  of  a  people,  which  would  only  have 
to  sleep,  two  or  three  years  in  succession,  to  wake 
up  in  the  midst  of  the  golden  age.  There  is  in 
this  opinion,  all  things  considered,  some  truth. 
The  only  inconvenience  of  this  happiness  is,  that 
it  will  suppress,  with  the  necessity  of  labor,  the 
feeling  of  social  solidarity  ;  destroy  with  this  sen- 
timent the  respect  for  property  ;  introduce  want 
thenceforth  by  the  gradual  disappearance  of  the 
bananas,  which  the  stronger  will  steal  from  the 
more  feeble,  and  for  the  reproduction  of  which, 
the  latter  will  liave  more  reason  to  care  ;  and  bring 


SOULOUQUE  ANlJ    HIS    P^MPIKK.  295 

man,  finally,  to  consider  liis  felloAv-uian  as  a  repast 
served  by  nature.  Certain  oceanic  peoples,  not  less 
privileged  than  the  subjects  of  Soulouque  witb  re- 
spect to  climate,  justify  this  disgusting  hypothesis. 
Indeed,  the  more  we  contemplate  this  living 
enigma,  called  Soulouque,  the  more  gloomy  it  be- 
comes. Never  were  such  numerous  energies,  guar- 
antees, and  civilizing  aptitudes,  found  accumulated 
in  the  same  hand  ;  and  never  was  there  made  a 
more  giatuitous  recoil  towards  barbarism,  with 
a  mind  more  reckless  of  consequences.  According 
as  this  inexplicable  monarch  shall  be  pleased  to 
enter  on  the  path,  his  interests  and  instincts  direct 
him — or,  to  remain  in  that,  I  cannot  say  what 
hidden  impulse  drives  him, — Hayti  will  be  pros- 
perous in  ten  years,  or  cannibal  in  twenty.  Does 
Soulouque  conceal  his  game  ?  He  almost  ex- 
plained it,  one  day,  when  he  said  to  some  one  : 
^'  In  order  to  tear  from  me  my  secret,  it  would  be 
necessar}^  to  open  me  like  a  mackerel !'  This  ope- 
ration would  expose  his  black  Majesty,  too  much. 
Let  us  endeavor  to  seek  the  secret  elsewhere  : — in 
tliat  little  Dominican  Republic  whose  obstinacy,  in 
continuing  republican,  costs  so  much  sleeplessness 
and  grief  to  Faustin  1st. 


XV. 

The  Doniinicaii   I»opiiblif. 

Tlic  social  condition  of  the  Spanish  part  of  Saint- 
Domingo  presented  at  tlie  ept^ch  of  the  first  revo- 
lution, a  complete  contrast  witli  that  of  the  Frencli 
portion  of  tlie  Island.".  Whilst  here,  principles, 
truly  christain,  contained  in  the  edict  of  1698, 
gradually  gave  place  to  a  legislation,  which  hranded 
mixed  marriages,  embarrassed  emancipation,  and 
openly  established  the  prejudice  of  color,  as  a  means 
of  police— rthere,  all  was  organized  to  facilitate  the 
fusion  of  tlie  two  races.  The  code  of  the  Indies 
recognized  marriages  between  master  and  slave  ; 
permitted  emancipation,  in  an  absolute  manner  ; 
allowed  to  the  slave,  in  fact,  the  power  of  redeem- 
ing himself,  by  recognizing  him  the  owner  of  the 
revenue  acquired  outside  the  labor,  due  to  the  mas- 
ter ;  and  assimilated,  almost  entirely,  the  enfran- 
chised class  to  the  whites.  Spanish  customs,  with 
their  tendencies  to  practical  equality,  which  did 
not  exclude  subordination,  but  gave  it  a  patriarchal 
character,  also  favored  intermixture ;  and  local 
circumstances  facilitated  this  influence  of  manners^J 

At  the  very  time  the  labors  of  the  mines  had  ex- 
hausted the  few  aborigines,  who  escaped  from  the 
ferocity  of  the  first  conquistador es,  the  occupation 


80UL0UQUE   AND    HIS   EMPlRil.  297 

of  Mexico  and  Peru  opened,  to  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture, an  illimitable  field.  The  want  of  laborers, 
on  one  hand,  and  the  allurements  of  the  unknown, 
on  the  other,  caused  the  most  enterprising  portion 
of  the  population,  to  emigrate  to  terra-firma ;  and 
planting  on  a  large  scale,  which  prevents  all  con- 
tact between  the  master  and  the  slave,  remained 
almost  unknown,  in  the  newly  settled  Spanish  colo- 
ny.  The  servitude  of  the  blacks,  who  were  about 
to  replace  in  Hayti  the  Indians  (declared  free  by 
repeated  edicts  of  the  Metropolis)  was  changed  into 
domesticity.  Besides,  the  greater  number  of  the 
colonists  had  adopted,  the  favorite  occupation  of 
the  Spaniards  of  that  period  ;  they  became  herds- 
men. And,  the  isolation,  which  this  kind  of  life 
produced, — the  community  of  ideas,  education,  ne- 
cessities, and  the  relations  of  equality,  nearly  abso- 
lute, which  was  brought  about,  in  the  long  run, 
between  the  master  and  the  slave, — did  the  rest. 

The  double  stratum  of  free  blood,  which  the  con- 
quering race,  and  the  last  remnant  of  the  indige- 
nous race,  mingled*  with  the  African  blood,  was  so 
little  distinguished  from  it  in  the  second  generation 
— the  bronze  tint  of  the  Spaniard,  the  copper  hue 


-■Four  thousand  natives  rallied  around  the  Cacique  Henri,  with 
whom  Spain  finally  treated  as  power  with  power.  Their  descend- 
ants, though  considerably  mixed,  are  still  recognized  by  the  beauty 
of  their  hair,  Avhich  both  men  and  women  take  great  pride  in  wear- 
ing smooth  and  flowing.  Some  connoisseurs  pretend  to  distinguish 
the  women  of  Indian  origin  by  the  following  sign  :  that  the  veins, 
instead  of  being  designated  by  blue  lines  under  the  skin,  appear  red. 


298  SOULOUQUE    AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

of  the  Indian,  and  the  histre  color  of  the  muhitto, 
tended  so  much  to  blend  together,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  common  hygiene,  and  climate, — that  the 
closest  observers  (if  there  were  any)  would  have 
been,  often,  very  much  embarrassed  to  discover, 
in  their  faces,  the  secret  of  a  lineage,  lost  in  the 
savannahs  and  forests. 

This  work  of  fusion,  which,  neither  European  im- 
migration, under  its  moral  relation,  nor  African 
immigration,  in  its  physiological  relation,  could 
lessen,  Avas  summed  up,  at  the  period  of  the  revolu- 
tion, in  the  following  figures  :  25,000  whites  of  the 
pure  Spanish  race  ; — 15,000  :  Africans  which,  by 
their  distribution,  escaped  every  insurrectionary 
propagandist,  and,  moreover,  were  too  proud  of  the 
social  superiority,  which  a  daily  contact  with  their 
masters  gave  them,  over  the  slaves  of  the  French 
part  of  the  Island,  to  consent  to  imitate  those, 
whom  they  scornfully  called  '^negroes;*' — and, 
finally,  ^3,000  sang-meles,  who  styled  themselves 
volunteer  whites ;  and  who,  there  being  no  injurious 
objection  raised  against  them,  were  at  length  con- 
sidered as  such.*  The  dissolving  element  of  the 
French  colony,  had  thus  become  the  conservative 
element  of  the  Spanish  colony.  Vanity,  which 
there  dug  an  abyss  of  hate  between  the  three  classes 
— here,  produced  their  cohesion. 

The  troubles  of  the  French  portion  of  the  Island 

*We  borrow  these  figures  from  the  book  of  M.  Lepelletier  de 
Saint-Remy. 


SOULOUyUB   AND   HIS   EMPIRJi].  299 

only  served  to  render  tliis  cohesion  closer.  Hostili- 
ties having  broken  out  between  Spain  and  France, 
tlie  Spanish  Governor  committed  the  error,  of  at- 
tracting and  enrolling  the  bands  of  Jean-Francois, 
and  Biassou.  They  entered  the  East,  as  into  a 
conquered  country,  exacting  titles,  cordons,  a  pen- 
sion of  a  hundred  thousand  livres  each,  and  mas- 
sacred, occasionally,  the  royal  emigrants — of  whom 
they  had  declared  themselves  tlie  protectors.  Jean- 
Francois  slew  a  thousand*  of  them  at  Fort  Dauphin, 
under  the  eyes  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  who  did 
not  dare  to  protest,  although  they  had  given  them 
an  asylum.  (Whilst  the  slave  minority,  comparing 
the  mildness  of  its  servitude,  with  the  strange 
liberty  enjoyed  by  the  soldiers  of  Jean-Francois, 
who  were  mutilated,  killed,  or  sold,  at  the  least 
caprice  of  their  masters,,  were  strengthened  more 
and  more,  in  its  contempt  of  the  "negroes"  and 
the  revolution — the  white  minority,  and  sang-mele 
majority,  experienced  a  common  indignation,  and 
a  common  terror,  in  seeing  themselves  at  the  mercy 
of  these  savage  masses,  whose  every  step  had  been 
marked  on  the  frontier,  by  the  massacre  of  whites 
or  mulattoes. 

When  the  peace  of  Bale  gave  us  the  whole  Island, 
and  Toussaint,  being  disposed  to  deceive  the  Span- 
ish portion,  as  he  had  done  that  of  the  French 
section,  indicated  that  he  was  about  to  take  posses- 

*IIistoire  d'Haiti,  par  Madiou. 


300  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

sion  of  the  East,  in  the  name  of  France,  tliis  accord 
of  repugnance  and  fear  was  still  more  energetically 
manifested.  A  deputation,  from  the  parishes,  went 
and  supplicated  the  two  Metropolises  to  concert  to- 
gether, so  that  the  cession  of  the  East  miglit  be 
delayed,  until  France  Avas  prepared  to  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  instead  of  her  soi-disant  delegate.  But, 
before  the  response  came,  Rigaud,  who  alone  held 
Toussaint  in  check,  was  defeated  ;  and  the  latter, 
leaving  Dessalines  to  complete  the  massacre  of  the 
colored  men  of  the  South,  abruptly  returned  to- 
wards the  Spanish  part  of  the  Island.  The  mulatto, 
Chanlatte,  and  General  Kerverseau,  Avho  served 
under  his  orders,  vainly  endeavored,  at  the  head  of 
a  hundred  and  fifty  French,  and  a  handful  of  Domi- 
nicans besides,  to  stop  the  passage  of  the  black 
army.  As  to  the  Spanish  Governor,  he  limited 
himself  to  a  show  of  defense  ;  and  Toussaint  re- 
mained master  of  this  magnificent  territory,  wliich 
his  approach  made  a  desert.  All  who  could  fly, 
had  fled  ! 

These  events  transpired  in  180] .  The  following 
year,  two  frigates  appeared  on  the  horizon  of  Saint- 
Domingo.  At  this  mute  signal  of  deliverance, 
without  even  knowing  wliether  a  landing  was  pos- 
sible, (the  condition  of  the  sea  not  permitting  it)  a 
hundred  and  fifty  Creoles,  aided  by  a  few  French- 
men, seized  one  of  the  forts,  by  massacring  the 
garrison,  and  being  compelled  by  the  want  of  suc- 
cor, to  seek  the  open  country,  propagated  the  revolt. 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  301 

At  the  end  of  twenty  days,  the  whole  East  had 
suhniitted  to  its  new  Metro23olis.  After  the  disas- 
ter_,  which  smote  the  army  of  Leclerc,  and  when 
our  flag,  surrounded  hy  only  a  few  hundred  soldiers^ 
seemed  rather  to  compromise,  than  to  protect,  the 
population  which  it  sheltered,  the  East,  alone,  had 
the  courage  to  continue  French  ;  preferring,  the 
danger  of  fidelity,  to  the  risks  of  negro  rule — and, 
even,  to  the  guarantees  of  material  security,  offered 
by  the  British  protectorate.  Tlieir  invincible  horror 
of  the  negro  yoke,  and  their  confidence  in  the 
French  flag,  have  continued  until  now,  the  two  dis- 
tinctive traits  of  popular  opinion  in  Dominica. 
Dessalines,  coming  a  short  time  afterwards,  at  the 
head  of  twenty-two  thousand  negroes,  spread  mas- 
sacre, pillage,  and  devastation  to  the  very  gates  of 
Santo-Domingo;  and  General  Ferrand  being  obliged 
to  retreat  before  him,  they  proved  this  double  ten- 
dency. The  devotion  of  the  Dominicans  to  France 
did  not  depreciate  for  a  moment. 

Under  the  able  administration  of  Ferrand,  the 
ancient  audiencia,  not  long  before  the  most  desolate 
of  the  Spanish  colonies,  rapidly  changed  its  aspect. 
Public  ofiices  were  organised,  roads  opened,  and 
outlets  abroad  established.  But,  four  years  had 
already  passed  away,  and  France,  who  was  absorbed 
in  her  Continental  struggle,  seemed  not  to  remem- 
ber, that,  in  the  midst  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  a 
handful  of  French  citizens  were  abandoned  to  them- 
selves, between  an  enemy  six  times  more  numerous, 


302  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

and  the  Ocean, ^  which  was  ploughed  by  the  cruisers 
of  another  enemy,  awaiting,  from  the  Metropolis, 
a  sign  of  encouragement,  or,  at  least  a  verbal 
pledge  of  protection.  A  gloomy  disaffection  began. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  unjust  invasion  of  Spain  by 
Napoleon  took  place,  and  the  Castillian  citizens  of 
Saint-Domingo  were  touched  to  the  heart,  by  that 
electric  thrill,  which,  from  the  Pyrenees  to  Cadiz — 
from  Cadiz  to  tlie  Antilles — from  the  Antilles  to 
the  Vermillion  sea — excited  the  Spanish  race 
against  us.  These  two  wrongs  were  easily  set  to 
work  against  the  French  by  the  Grovernor  of  Porto- 
Kico,  and  especially  by  English  agents  ;  who  did 
not  cease  to  show  to  the  Dominicans,  on  one  hand, 
an  innumerable  army  of  negroes  ready  to  profit  at 
any  time,  by  the  desertion  of  France,  to  invade 
them — and,  on  the  other,  a  British  squadron,  de- 
termined to  protect  them  against  the  hatred  of 
France,  until  the  old  mother  country  was  prepared 
to  succor  them.  An  insurrection  broke  out,  in  the 
Canton  of  Seybo  ;  and  the  leader  of  the  insurgents, 
a  Spanish  Creole,  Juan  Sanchez  Kamirez,  soon 
gathered  about  him  two  thousand  men.  Ferrand 
attacked  them,  with  five  hundred  ;  who,  after  a 
combat  of  four  hours,  were  overwhelmed  and  put 
to  flight.  Ferrand  blew  out  his  brains  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  the  few  French  detachments,  distri- 
buted through  the  colony,  fell  back  towards  Santo- 
Domingo  ; — a  place  which  was  only  protected  by  a 
dilapidated  wall,  and  without  a  ditch,  but  which 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  303 

Brigadier-G-eneral  Barquier  took  it  into  his  head 
to  defendj  against  the  combined  efforts  of  the  insur- 
gents, and  tlie  English  cruisers. 

The  small  supj^ly  of  provisions,  which  were  found 
in  the  place,  or  which  the  corsairs  succeeded  in 
throwing  in,  were  soon  consumed,  and  they  ate 
boots,  harness,  and  their  buffiilo  skins  ;  these,  like- 
wise, were  soon  consumed.  It  then  became  ne- 
cessary to  make  a  sortie,  and  gain  a  battle,  ^ery 
time  they  desired  to  dine.  In  war  they  must  do 
as  in  war  ;  this  dinner  was  composed,  almost  en- 
ti^:'ely,  of  poisonous  roots,  called  gualliga ;  which 
grew,  fortunately,  in  abundance  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  city,  and  whose  venomous  properties,  were  a 
little  abated,  after  six  hours  of  very  complicated 
manipulations.  At  the  end  of  eight  months, — 
and,  after  eleven  sorties,  and  as  many  battles  and 
victories,  each  of  which  cost  the  enemy  very  dearly 
— destiny  interfered  decisively  :  the  gualliga  failed. 
And  as  difficulty  never  comes  alone,  the  English 
cruiser,  having  become  by  degrees  a  squadron,  pre- 
pared a  landing.  Barquier,  who  had  refused,  to 
the  last,  to  treat  with  the  insurgents^  resigned 
himself,  therefore,  to  propose  to  the  commander  of 
the  British  forces,  an  honorable  capitulation,  and 
such,  as  could  be  demanded  by  brave  men,  still 
supplied  with  gualliga.  I  know  but  one  thing 
quite  as  sublime  as  this  super-human  heroism,  and 
which  had  the  consciousness  of  its  obscurity :  it  is 
the  address  made  by  Major  General,  8ir  Hugh  Lyle 


304  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS  EMPIRE. 

Carmicliael,  to  his  troops,  in  taking  possession  of 
the  place  : 

^'  Soldiers  !"  said  Sir  Hugh,  *"'  you  have  not  had 
the  glory  of  vanquishing  the  brave  garrison,  which 
you  replace  ;  but  you  are  about  to  rest  your  heads 
upon  the  same  stones,  where  these  intrepid  soldiers 
are  about  to  cease  their  glorious  labors,  after  hav- 
ing braved  the  dangers  of  war,  and  the  horrors  of 
famine.  May  these  grand  souvenirs  impress  your 
hearts,  with  sentiments  of  respect,  and  admiration 
for  them  ;  and  remember,  that,  if  you  follow  some 
day  their  example,  you  will  have  done  enough  for 
our  glory." 

Barquier,  with  his  diminutive  garrison,  marched 
out  with  the  honors  of  war,  and  were  taken  to 
France,  at  the  expense  of  Great  Britain. 

These  are  some  of  the  magnificent  souvenirs, 
which  close  the  history  of  our  brief  domination  at 
Santo-Domingo.  To  the  involuntary  respect,  which 
they  left,  in  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants,  the  re- 
grets of  contrast — the  first  effervescence  of  past 
Espagnolisme — were  added.  The  treaty  of  Paris 
confirmed  the  retrocession,  which  operated,  in  fact, 
in  favor  of  Spain  ;  and  this  beautiful  colony — to 
which  a  French  administration  of  four  years  dura- 
tion, working  under  the  most  unfavorable  circum- 
stances, was  sufficient  to  reveal  the  secret  of  its 
riches, — found  its  old  metropolis  poorer,  feebler, 
and  more  incapable  of  resuscitation  than  ever.  The 
memory  of  General  Ferrand  became,  and  continues 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  305 

to  this  day,  in  tlie  Spanish  portion  of  the  Island, 
an  object  of  real  worship. 

'(in  1821,  an  advocate,  named  Nunez  Caseres 
took  advantage  of  the  reaction,  produced  by  the 
discontent,  or  indiiference,  which  was  produced  un- 
der the  Spanish  flag,  to  raise  at  Santo-Domingo 
the  standard  of  Columbia,  and  proclaimed  himself 
President.  But  an  old  municipal  rivalry  existed, 
between  Santiago,  an  important  town  of  the  in- 
terior, and  Santo-Domingo.  A  schism  almost  in- 
stantly, took  place,  and  a  fourth  of  the  pillage  of 
Christophe's  treasury,  saved  by  Boyer,  they  sa}^, 
in  one  way  and  another,  played  an  important  part 
in  the  affair.  Considered  from  a  distance,  the 
movement,  which  was  about  to  subjugate  the  entire 
French  portion  of  the  island,  to  the  successor  of 
Petion,  would  pass  for  a  mulatto  reaction  :  and  the 
latter,  who  ardently  coveted  tlie  East,  had  easily 
sown  division  among  its  subjects,  hoping  that  by 
favor  of  a  kind  of  sympathy  which  his  color,  and 
his  recent  triumph  over  African  influence,  estab- 
lished between  the  sang-mel^'e  majority  of  the 
Spanish  part  of  the  Island  and  himself,  he  would 
be  easily  accepted  as  mediator.  Indeed  one  of  the 
two  factions  called  him.  Under  the  impression  of 
the  relative  security  he  inspired,  there^was  no  de- 
fence organized  ;  and  his  army  divided  into  two 
bodies,  one  of  wliich,  penetrated  by  the  north,  the 
other  by  tlie  south,  readied  Santo-Domingo,  with- 
out striking  a  blow  ;   where  he  liad  nothing   to  do 


306  SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

but  proclaim  tlie  Constitution  of  the  West,,  (Feb- 
ruary the  9th,  1822).  ^ 

The  Castillian  portion  of  the  inhabitants  had, 
however,  neither  shared  this  security,  nor  indiffer- 
ence. Foreseeing  what  Boyer  contemplated  in 
coming,  and  not  being  able  to  expect,  the  least 
help,  from  the  Goverment  at  Madrid,  they  were 
reminded  of  the  flag,  which,  twice  before,  had 
saved,  the  Spanish  part  of  the  Island,  from  an  in- 
vasion by  the  West ;  and  a  deputation  of  notables, 
secretly,  visited  the  Governor  of  Martinique,  to 
solicit  the  protection  of  France.  A  fleet,  under 
command  of  Rear-Admiral  Jacob,  was  quickly  dis- 
patched towards  Saint-Domingo  ;  but  in  the  mean- 
time, the  annexation  deception  of  Boyer  was  ac- 
complished. The  negro  troops,  which  already  in- 
undated the  whole  country,  were  restrained,  by 
fear  of  an  explosion  of  French  tendencies,  and  Rear- 
Admiral  Jacob  arrived,  only  in  time,  to  receive 
those  of  the  inhabitants,  who  were  more  openh' 
compromised  by  our  intentions. 

The  ability,  of  Avhich  Boyer  began  to  give  proof, 
abandoned  him  in  the  administration  of  this  easy 
conquest.  In  a  countr}^,  wliere  the  fourth  of  the 
population  was  of  white  derivation, — and  half  of 
the  sang-meles  claimed  this  origin, — it  was  impos- 
sible to  dream  of,  openly,  applying  that  article  of 
the  constitution,  which  prohibited  tlie  whites  from 
holding  real  estate.  But  Boyer  applied  it,  in  an 
indirect  way  ;  either,  by  obliging  the  whites  to  be 


SOULOUQTJE    AND    HIS    EMPIRE.  oOT 

naturalized  as  Haytiens — French  as  well  as  Si)an- 
isli — who  should  continue  to  reside  in  the  country,  as 
proprietors;* — or,  by  confiscating  the  effects  of  the 
absent  proprietors,  wlio  should  not  come  forward, 
and  make  good  their  rights,  after  tlie  expiration  of 
a  year,  (which  was  pi'olonged  four  months  in  order 
to  ])reserve  tlie  hypocrisy  of  forms)  ; — or  finally,  by 
requiring  the  production  of  title-j^apers  in  a  coun- 
try, where  the  right  of  property,  often,  only  rested 
upon  oral  tradition.  If  any  white  person  pro- 
tested, he  was  imprisoned^  persecuted,  and  even 
sometimes  shot ;  and  this  di.scouragement,  or  fear, 
drove  off,  one  after  another,  the  few  important 
families,  wlio  had  succeeded  in  avoiding  the  ban- 
ishment, with  which,  these  iniquitous  fiscal  regu- 
lations smote  the  European  race.  With  it,  disap- 
peared from  the  soil,  day  by  day,  '^  talents,  riches, 
commerce,  and  agriculture,  "f  ^^  ^  few  years,  the 
enormous  accumulations,  of  money,  whicli,  the 
former  descendants  of  the  first  colonists,  allowed 


*  Those  whites  who  did  not  wish  to  renounce  their  nationality, 
and  swear  allegiance  to  Boyer,  had,  it  is  true,  the  right  of  selling  their 
lands ;  but  a  system,  which  drove  away  the  whites  established  in 
the  East,  kept  away,  for  a  stronger  reason,  Euroj^ean  emigration, 
which  could  only  furnish  them  purchasers.  The  people  of  the  coun- 
try possessed  a  hundred  times  more  land,  than  they  could  cultivate. 
This  right  was  therefore  simply  ridiculous. 

f  Manifesto  of  the  Dominican  insurgents. — At  the  fall  of  Boyer, 
the  figure  of  the  Eastern  population,  Avhich,  twcntj-  years  before, 
rose  to  about  125,000  souls,  was  found  reduced  to  about  85,000 — 
a  loss  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent. 


308  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

to  accumulate  in  their  coffers,  from  generation  to 
generation,  had  disappeared  ;  and  the  invasion  of 
Haytien  paper-money  ended,  in  paralyzing  the 
feeble  commercial  circulation,  wliich  the  slow  dis- 
tribution of  this  coin  had  kept  up. 

The  roads,  opened  by  Ferrand,  were  no  longer 
passable  ;  and,  by  the  gradual  disappearance  of 
foreign  flags,  agricultural  production,  had  nearly 
descended  to  the  level  of  domestic  consumption. 
The  old  University  of  Santo-Domingo,  wdiich  for- 
merly, attracted  the  Spanish  youth  of  the  Islands, 
and  the  neighboring  continent,  no  longer  even 
opened  its  vacant  halls,  to  the  youth  of  the  coun- 
try, who  were  condemned  to  the  weak  intellectual 
broth,  of  a  board  of  public  instruction,  which  was 
organized,  for  the  whole  Republic,  at  a  cost  of 
fifteen  thousand fra7ics.  It  was  not  so,  as  to  the 
architectural  remains  of  the  ancient  Castilian  mag- 
nificence which,  by  a  frightful  symbol,  was  unable 
to  crumble  down  under  this  breath  of  barbarism. 
(Boyer  did  not  K3ven  leave  to  the  Dominicans,  the 
privileges  of  a  barbarous  condition.  The  two 
great  resources  of  every  inij)erfect  social  organiza- 
tion-/-raising  cattle,  Avhich  in  this  propitious  cli- 
mate, and  on  the  immense  plains  of  virgin  fertilit}^, 
required  neither  money  nor  care — and  cutting  the 
precious  woods,  a  labor  which  brought  an  imme- 
diate remuneration — did  not  escape  any  more  than 
the  rest,  from  the  covetous  greediness  of  the  Port- 
au-Prince  Government.    The  vast  domains  of  land, 


SOULOUQUE   AND    JUS   EMPIRE.  809 

granted  to  tlie  first  colonists,  were  almost  every- 
where clianged  into  hatos  (pastures)  which  the 
descendants  of  these  colonists  enjoyed  in  common. 

Under  tlie  pretext,  of  a])plying  to  the  East,  the 
land  system  of  the  West,  Boyer  required,  that  the 
hatos  should  he  divided  between  the  occupants  ; 
and  J  as  these  had  not  been  careful  to  preserve  their 
titles  to  a  joint  property,  which  no  one  before  de- 
nied them,  this  requirement,  apparently  so  inoffen- 
sive, ended  in  the  pure  and  simple  confiscation  of 
these  common  pastures.  The  division  of  these 
pastures,  alone,  would  have  been,  besides,  suf- 
ficient to  ruin  cattle-raising.  The  operation  of 
this  measure  met  with  so  much  resistance,  in  its 
application^,  that  it  did  little  more  than  oppress 
the  hattiers  with  a  state  of  menace  ;  but  this  was 
sufficient,  to  render  the  yoke  of  Port-au-Prince 
odious  to  them.  An  intolerable  fiscal  system,;  a 
little  later,  paralyzed  the  cutting  of  mahogany^ 
and,  finally,  extended  to  the  country,  the  discour- 
agements and  hatreds,  which  the  destruction  of 
commerce_,  and  the  material  or  moral  proscription, 
which  oppressed  the  elite  of  the  population,  had 
scattered  through  the  towns.  Let  us  add  that,  not 
content  with  associating  the  inhabitants  of  the 
East,  with  its  present  barbarism,  Hayti  made 
them  responsible  for  her  past,  by  making  them  pay 
their  quota  of  the  French  indemnity,  which  they 
did  not  owe. 

The  blows,  given  by  Boyer,  to  the  Catholic  sen- 


310  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIKE. 

timent  of  the  Dominicans,  who  continue  religious 
like  the  Spaniards  of  the  XVth  century_,  would 
have  been  a  sufficient  cause  to  band  together,  in  a 
common  antipathy,  the  different  elements  of  that 
population., 

I  have  remarked_,  that, /with  regard  to  religion, 
the  old  mulatto  party  still  entertained  the  ideas  of 
the  revolution  and  the  Directory.  From  the  con- 
flict between  that  bigoted  philosophy,  which  only 
believed  in  compere  Mathieu,(and  that  ardent  Ca- 
tholicism, which  believed  alone  in  miracles,  there 
was  obliged  to  spring  up  mortal  offences  ;  and  the 
Government  of  Port-au-Prince  made  the  wound 
bleed  at  pleasure.  The  treasures  of  the  Church, 
more  than  once,  satisfied  its  financial  penury. 
The  presbyteries,  chapters,  and  convents,  were  de- 
prived of  their  lands  and  rents,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public  domain.  Cheats,  and  humiliations,  of 
every  kind,  were  no  more  spared  that  all-powerful 
Dominican  clergy,  which  has  personified,  since  the 
first  days  of  the  conquest,  the  supremacy  of  the 
Indies,  than  to  the  conventional  priests  of  the 
French  portion  of  the  Island.  (The  Archbishop, 
primate  of  Santo-Domingo,  who,  nevertheless,  was 
thought  to  have  taken  a  hand  in  the  annexation, 
rendered  this  antagonism  more  striking  still,  by 
refusing  to  extend  his  jurisdiction  over  the  West, 
and,  finally,  astonished  the  masses,  by  deserting 
his  See  to  go  and  die  in  a  convent  of  Cuba. 

The  systematic  exclusion,  which,  gradually  drove 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  311 

them  from  tlie  public  employmentSj — the  presence 
of  numerous  black  garrisons,  in  each  of  these 
towns, — the  daily  insults  to  which  this  contact  ex- 
posed them,  under  a  regime,  where  partiality  in 
favor  of  the  blacks,  was  established,  by  means  of 
government, — all,  concurred  to  give  the  Domini- 
cans that  role  of  the  vanquished,  which,  in  the 
absence  of  any  other  wrongs,  justified  revolt.  At 
the  first  news  of  the  insurrection  of  Cayes  (1843,) 
the  old  Sj^anish  audiencia,  with  Santo-Domingo  in 
tlie  lead,  rose,  en  masse,  against  Boyer. 

The  idea  of  a  separation  did  not,  however,  pre- 
dominate on  the  first  uprising  ;  for,  the  Spanish 
part  of  the  Island  sent  deputies,  to  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  at  Port-au-Prince.  But,  even  there, 
the  definitive  rupture  happened  to  be  accomplished. 

The  Dominican  deputation,  nobly,  prefered  its 
own  soil.  The  East  consented,  not  to  separate 
from  the  West — but  upon  condition,  that  the  west 
would,  no  longer,  persist,  in  separating  itself  from 
civilization, — and,  tliat  white  immigration  should 
cease  to  be  prohibited.  Either  the  threatening 
condition,  which  this  last  effort  at  reconciliation 
implied,  was  not  understood, — or,  that  they  thought 
the  menaces  of  a  population,  six  times  less  numer- 
ous than  that  of  the  French  portion  of  the  island 
might  be  disdained, — the  exclusion  of  the  whites 
was  maintained.  Absolute  equality  of  worship 
was,  besides,  introduced,  for  the  first  time,  in  the 
fundamental  faith  ;  and  this  innovation,!  in  which 


312  SOULOUQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

the  spirit  of  imitation  had,  probably,  more  share, 
than  the  spirit  of  system, /was  perhaps  considered 
by  the  Dominicansjas  its  legal  approval,  and  in 
consequence,  an  aggravation  of  the  blows  given, 
under  Boyer,  at  their  religious  sentiments.  '^  If, 
when  Catholicism  was  the  religion  of  the  State,  its 
ministers  were  scorned,  and  vilified,  what  will  it 
be  now,  that  it  is  about  to  be  surrounded  by  secta- 
ries, and  enemies?"  (Manifesto  of  the  Dominican 
insurgents.) 

From  this  moment^  all  the  districts  of  the  East 
l^repared  for  insurrection,  whilst  the  Dominican 
deputies,  who  kept  their  seats,  for  the  sake  of  form, 
in  the  Constituent  Assembl}^,  took  secret  mea- 
sures, with  Kear-Admiral  Mosges,  commanding  the 
French  naval  forces, — with  M.  A.  Barrot,  envoy  to 
Port-au-Prince,  to  negotiate  the  question  of  the  in- 
demnity— and  with  M.  Lavasseur,  our  consul-gen- 
eral. The  Dominican  deputies  asked,  the  concur- 
rence of  France,  to  the  separation,  which  was  being 
prepared  ;  offering  us,  in  exchange,  either  the  sov- 
ereignty, the  protectorate,  or  the  cession,  jDure  and 
simple,  of  their  territory.  Our  agents  refused  to 
decide,  confining  themselves  to  transmitting  these 
overtures  to  the  French  Government ;  but  between 
the  oppressors  and  the  oppressed — between  Port- 
au-Prince,  which  repelled  civilzation,  and  Santo- 
Domingo,  which  invited  it-^-between  those  Haytiens 
who,  as  a  recompense  of  the  generous  abandonment 
of  our  rights,  and  of  our  systematic  patience,  in 


SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS    EMPIRE.  313 

the  indemnity  affair,  establiylied  hatred  to  the  name 
of  France  in  a  constitutional  principle, — and  those 
Dominicans  who,  not  owing  us  any  thing  after  all, 
invited,  for  tlie  fourth  time  in  fifty  years  past, 
that  French  flag,  they  were  the  last  to  defend,  in 
the  Island,-^could  the  sympathies  of  our  Govern- 
ment be  questioned  ?  The  deputies  of  the  East, 
therefore,  thought,  it  unnecessary  to  dissemble  their 
hopes  ;  and,  one  fine  da;f ,  Herard  had  them  ar- 
rested. 

M.  Levasseur  obtained  their  liberation  ;  and  the 
Dominicans   only  saw,  in  this  measure,  a  formal 
pledge  of  our  protection.     The  arrival,  at  Santo- 
Domingo,  of  M.  Juchereau  de  St-Denis,  the  consul 
designed  for  Cap, — and  who,  in  consequence  of  the 
destruction  of  that  city,  was  allowed,  by  the  Hay- 
tien  Government,  to  transfer  his  residence  to  the 
eastern  capital— the  presence  of  French  ships,  which 
had  transported  M.  Juchereau  de  St-Denis,  and 
the  Dominican  deputies,  liberated  by  M.  Levasseur 
—and  the  undiplomatic,  but  ardent  sympathy  of 
our  sailors— all,  contributed  to  strengthen  the  Do- 
minicans, in  this  conviction.     Although,  our  agents 
might  kill  themselves,  saying,  that  France  had  not 
decided;    although,   the   chief  of  the   Dominican 
deputation,  M.  Baez,  advised  them,  the  very  first, 
to  await  this  decision  before  acting  ;  Santo-Domingo 
gave  the  signal  of  revolt  (27t]i  February,  1844), 
which  was  propagated,  witli  the  rapidity  of  light, 
over  the  whole  Spanish  portion  of  the  Island. 


314  SOULOUQUE    AND    THS   EMPIRE. 

M.  Jucliereau  de  St-Deiiis  could,  at  least,  have 
prevented  the  consec[iiences  of  an  impatience,  which 
it  was  not  in  his  power  to  comprehend.  The  Hay- 
tien  garrison  of  Santo-Domingo  was  perfectly  pre- 
pared, to  batter  down  the  city;  he  obtained  its 
capitulation.  The  chancellor  of  the  consulate,  M. 
Terny,  even  took  it  upon  himself  to  overcome  the 
last  hesitations  of  the  Haytien  commander,  b}^ 
going,  all  out  of  breath  J  to  tell  the  latter^  that  an 
innumerable  body  of  insurgents  would,  in  a  few 
moments,  come  to  slay  him — him  and  his  soldiers. 
''  But  I  do  not  see  any  one,"  said  the  commander, 
putting  his  nose  against  the  window.  ^''  It  is  true 
beyond  question  ;  theTj  are  at  dinner  .  .  !"  replied 
M.  Terny,  with  great  composure^  whose  observa- 
tion produced  the  greater  effect,  because  he  had  the 
merit  of  the  local  color.  "I  did  not  think  of  that !" 
said  the  commander  in  reply  ;  and  the  Haytien 
garrison  embarked. 

The  insurgents  published  a  long  manifesto,  in- 
tended to  assert  their  wrongs  and  rights,  with  those 
civilized  nations  to  whom  they  opened  the  Island. 
The  Dominicans  declared  they  revolted,  in  virtue 
of  the  principle,  which  had  justified_,  some  months 
previously,  the  fall  of  Boyer.)  This  indirect  sanc- 
tion was  even  perfectly  useless. 
;.  "Because  the  natives  call  the  Island,  Hayti,  it 
does  not  follow,  that  the  western  part  of  it,  which 
was  first  erected  into  a  Sovereign  Government,  has 
the  right  to  consider  the  teri'itory  of  the  East,  as 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  315 

an  integral  part  of  that  Government.  ...  If  the 
eastern  portion  ever  belongs  to  any  other  domina- 
tion, than  that  of  its  own  sons,  it  will  appertain 
to  France,  or  Spain,  and  not  to  Hayti.   .   .   ." 

Do  you  object  the  tacit  agreement  of  1822  ?  The 
existence  of  that  compact  is  more  than  doubtful ;  and 
you  have  released  us  from  it,  at  all  events,  by 
violating  it  outrageously.  ^'We  owe  no  duty  to 
those  wlio  deprive  us  of  our  rights."  Do  you  con- 
sider, on  the  contrary,  the  East  as  conquered  by 
force?  very  well  !  Let  force  decide.  Such  is  the 
substance  of  this  long  document,  in  which  Spanish 
fatalism,  and  the  scholastic  wrangling  of  the  old 
Metropolitan  university,  reveals  itself,  sometimes, 
in  a  piquant  manner:  as  in  this  phrase  :  '•^Con- 
sidering^ that  a  people,  which  is  condemned  to  obey 
by  force,  and  obeys,  does  well  ; — but  that  as  soon 
as  it  can  resist,  and  resists,  it  does  better.   .   .   .'' 

And  here  this  generous  diminutive  of  a  nation, 
for  the  ])a.st  twelve  years,  has  been  strutting  from 
battle  field  to  battle  field,  mounted  on  its  consider- 
ing. 

We  have  not  related,  here,  the  romantic  episodes 
of  this  struggle  ;  the  useless  attempts  made,  for 
eight  years,  by  the  English  and  Americans,  to  as- 
sume for  Saint-Domingo,  the  interested  part  of 
saviors  ;  the  touching  obstinacy  of  the  young  Re- 
public for  French  tendencies^  wliicli  refused,  in  the 
most  desperate  situations,  to  yield  the  right  of  offer- 
ing itself  to  us,  and  which,  in  awaiting  the  reply  of 


3T6  SOULOUQUE  AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

France,  was  reduced  to  fight  with  only  swords  as 
a  matter  of  economy.  Let  us  confine  ourselves  to 
stating,  that  the  Haytiens  taken,  en  masse ^  would 
not  have  asked  anything  better,  than  to  let  the 
Dominicans  alone.  The  rupture  of  the  national 
bond,  as  they  say  at  Port-au-Prince,  was  certciiYily 
the  least  regret  of  a  revolution,  which,  a  few  days 
afterwards,  detached,  for  its  own  advantage,  the 
North  and  the  South  from  this  bond.  But  for 
Acaau — who  frightened  everybody  a  little,  and  ap- 
propriately rallied  the  different  parties  on  the 
neutral  ground  of  Guerrier's  candidature, — Hayti 
would,  probably,  now  be  divided  into  four  distinct 
Governments  ;  two  monarchies,  and  two  Republics. 
The  Haytiens  have  moreover  exhibited,  at  all  times, 
an  invincible  repugnance  to  being  garrisoned  at 
Saint-Domingo  ;  and  the  levies  en  masse,  of  which, 
the  war  in  the  East  was,  and  is  still,  the  pretext, 
opposed  it  for  a  stronger  reason.  Let  us  add  that 
I  this  war  has  frequently  threatened  the  French  part 
of  the  Island  with  famine,  whose  inhabitants  sup- 
plied their  stock  of  provisions,  from  the  cattle  of 
the  Spanish  part,  and  left  them,  in  exchange,  its 
coffee.  If,  finally,  fear  of  the  whites,  made  the 
submission  of  a  country  desirable,  which  invited 
white  immigration — these  very  jealousies  contri- 
buted, also,  by  reaction,  to  render  odious  a  war, 
which,  in  prolonging  itself,  might  substitute-  for 
this  peaceable  immigration,  an  armed  intervention. 
Guerrier  and  Riche  seemed  to  share,  in  this  re- 


SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE.  3l7 

pect,  the  general  impression  ;  tand  their  attainment 
of  power  was  marked,  by  a  tacit  truce,  between  the 
East  and  West.  Soulonque,  himself,  seemed  dis- 
posed, upon  principle,  to  let  the  Dominicans  alone  ; 
but  M.  Dupu}^,  and  Similien  became,  the  one,  min- 
ister, and  the  other,  intimate  counsellor  ; — M.  Du- 
puy,  who  was  interested  in  military  supplies,  and 
Similien,  who  looked  to  the  Presidency,  were  skill- 
ful enough,  without  their  knowledge,  to  push  him 
into  a  war,  which,  ensured  to  the  one  very  hand- 
some profits,  and  furnished  the  other  Dominican 
balls  as  accomplices.  Soulouque  yielded,  with  so 
much  less  mistrust,  to  these  suggestions,  because 
they  proceeded  at  the  same  time,  from  two  opposite 
sides — from  two  rival  influences, — from  two  sworn 
enemies.  (From  1847,  the  subjugation  of  the  East, 
became  the  fixed  idea  of  the  future  Emperor  ;  and 
since — even  among  those,  who  deplored  this  mania 
— there  were  some  who  flattered  it,  in  order  not  to 
be  shot.  The  favorite  delusion  of  Soulouque — that 
which  his  courtiers  caressed  the  most, — consisted, 
a  long  time,  in  believing  that  the  Dominicans 
sighed  after  Haytien  rule  ;  and,  that  the  fear  of 
punishment,  which  they  deserved  for  revolt,  alone 
restrained  this  impulse  of  submission.  Therefore, 
he  never  ceased  offering  them  a  magnanimous  par- 
don.) One  of  the  ministers,  more  honest  than  his 
colleagues,  tried  to  give  another  direction  to  the 
President's  ideas,  and  pronounced  the  word/e(iera- 
tion.  "What  is  it,  this  federation  ?"  said  Soulou- 
M 


318  SOULOUQUE  AND  HIS  EMPIRE. 

que,  frowning  at  tins  word,  so  entirely  new  to  his 
mind  and  ears.  ^'Mr.  President,  it  is — it  is  what 
you  wish" — stammered  the  minister.  ^'Then  it  is 
good,"  said  Soulonque,  tranquilised.  ''I  do  not 
retract  it;  I  promise  the  federation ;  I  will  even 
consent  to  recognize  the  grades,  created  by  the  in- 
surgents !"  In  fact,  amnesty,  and  federation  were 
synonymous  to  Soulouque  ;  and  this  qui-pro-quo 
continued  several  months. 

I  have  related,  what  misrepresentations  Soulouque 
reported  of  his  expedition  in  1849  ;  deceptions  so 
much  the  more  cruel,  that  after  these  repeated  as- 
surances of  an  amnesty,  he  expected  to  be  received 
in  the  East  with  open  arms.  Enmities  of  skin, 
were  added  to  the  exasperation  of  being  beaten,  to 
poison  the  wound,  with  which,  this  savage  pride 
bled.  The  victors  were,  not  merely  rebels,  but 
also  mulattoes,  as  he  called  them  ;  and  his  fixed 
idea  of  conquest  was  changed,  into  a  fixed  idea  of 
extermination.  The  thirst  for  gold,  which  equaled, 
in  Soulouque,  the  thirst  for  blood,  had  its  part^ 
also,  in  the  preparations  of  destruction,  which  he 
never  ceased  to  make  against  the  "Spaniards  ;"  for 
the  idea  of  Spaniards  was  always  associated,  in  that 
part  of  the  world,  with  the  idea  of  quadripoles j"^ 
precious  relics,  and  virgins  of  massive  gold.  This 
was  the  allurement,  which,  from  a  distance,  fasci- 
nated Toussaint ; — which,  had  attracted  Dessalines 

■*  A  Spauisb  gold  coin  valued  at  two  j'isloks. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  319 

Up  to  the  gates  of  Santo-Domingo  ; — and  which, 
more  recently  still, — at  the  time  of  the  African  re- 
action, between  the  death  of  Guerrier  and  the  ac- 
cession of  Riche, — invited  Pierrot  to  the  East, 
Avhere  he  was  as  hadly  received,  as  his  Emperor  was 
later. 

Have  we  not  touched,  decidedly,  on  the  secret  of 
Soulouque  ?  If  the  negro  tyrant  continues  the 
pressure  of  1848,  against  the  prostrate  mulattoes, 
is  it  not  from  fear,  (otherwise  very  chimerical)  of 
seeing  them,  at  the  time  of  the  general  killing  of 
the  Dominicans,  which  he  projects,  develope  the 
solidarity  of  despair,  which  unites  them  to  the 
8ang-7nele  majority  of  that  population  ?  If,  on  the 
contrary,  he  caresses  the  piquets  so  much,  it  is  he- 
cause  he,  no  doubt,  thinks  them  indispensable  to 
this  work  of  extermination  ;  in  which,  they  Avould 
display,  with  a  science,  and  aplomb  of  cruelty 
which  they,  alone,  still  possess,  in  the  country  of 
Biassou,  those  furious  antiphathies  of  color,  of 
which  they  are  the  last  depositories.  Does  not  the 
invasion  of  the  Spanish  part  of  Island^  (if  so  be 
that  this  part  may  suffer  itself  to  be  invaded)  offer, 
moreover,  an  easy  solution  of  the  unexpected  differ- 
ence, between  the  government  and  the  piquets,  on 
the  question  of  pillage  ?  This  question  may  be  put 
off,  as  long  as  the  fabrication  of  paper  mone}^,  and 
the  prices  of  provisions,  will  help  them  to  wait ;  but, 
which  will  be  inevitably  renewed,  when  this  paper 
money  is  no  longer  worth  anything,  and  the  foreign 


320  SOULOIIQUE    AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

merchants  refuse  to  deliver  their  goods.  This  pro- 
hahly  explains,  also,  how  Soulouque,  after  being 
so  much  alarmed,  by  tlie  attitude  of  these  danger- 
ous creditors,  as  to  have  the  most  pressing  of  them 
shot,  nev^ertheless,  continued  to  fill  the  administra- 
tion, and  the  army  stafi',  from  their  ranks.  The  hour 
of  settlement  having  come,  that  would  be  the  time 
to  pay  off  the  hatred  of  the  West.  Is  it  not,  in 
short,  in  these  expectations  of  a  pillage  whose 
riches  are  exaggerated,  that  it  is  necessary  to  seek 
the  secret  of  that  frightful  improvidence,  with 
which,  His  Majesty  scatters  and  wastes,  interest 
and  principal,  the  last  resources  of  the  country?  I 
have  not  invented  these  suppositions  ;  they  are  cur- 
rent in  H^yti, — and  iigured_,  not  long  ago  as  we 
said,  in  Europe,  among  the  constitutional  previsions 
of  the  time. 

The  last  campaign  against  the  Dominicans, 
brought  a  new  and  cruel  disappointment  to  these 
expectations,  (December,  1855).  Only  one  of  the 
two  Haytien  corps  d'armee  was  engaged,  by  its 
advanced  guard  ;  which  disbanded  at  the  first  fire, 
on  this  reflexion  being  uttered  in  a  loud  voice  by 
one  of  the  Generals:  '^the  Emperor  has  deceived 
the  common  people,  by  assuring  them,  that  the 
Dominicans  would  surrender^  without  striking  a 
blow!" 

This  imprudent  General  was,  no  less  a  person 
than  His  Excellency,  the  Count  de  I'He  a-Vache, 
alias  the  abominable  Voltaire  Castor ;  ^vho,  upon 


SOTILOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  321 

this  remark  being  proved  against  liim,  was  shot, 
with  several  Colonels,  his  friends.* 

This  was  also,  after  all,  a  method  with  Sou- 
louque  of  settlement,  witli  the  piquets. '\  The 
second  corps  did  not  even  attack  the  enemy,  and 
were  remanded  to  general  quarters,  in  consequence 
of  a  council  of  war  ;  at  wliicJi,  it  was  decided 
that  the  troops  manifested  suspected  dispositions. 
Hence,  a  new  investigation,  and  Sinoi\\Qv  fusillade ^ 
in  which  General  Dessalines,  son  of  the  Ex -Em- 
peror of  that  name,  and  Colonel  Belliard,  son  of 
the  Ex-King  Christophe,  were  associated.  No 
rival  dynasty  will,  therefore,  have  to  congratulate 
itself  upon  the  bad-luck  of  that  of  Faustin.  After 
these  acts  of  autliority,  Soulouque  marched,  in 
person,  upon  Santiago  ;  but  was  stopped,  some 
leagues  from  the  frontier,  by  the  Dominicans,  who, 


*'  In  order  to  harmonize  everything,  after  his  fashion  always,  Sou- 
louque  sent  to  execution,  with  the  friends  of  Voltaire  Castor,  many 
honest  people. 

t  After  the  last  news  this  settlement  would  have  been  more  urgent 
than  ever.  "Yhe  piquets,  among  which,  for  a  year  past,  fearful  im- 
patience was  exhibited,  at  length  (in  1856)  revolted  in  the  plains  of 
Cayes  ;  and,  now,  the  peninsular  of  the  South  may  be,  in  blood  and 
flames.  Will  His  Majesty  arrive  in  time  on  the  spot?  For  himself, 
and  the  countr}',  the  whole  question  lies  in  this.  Free  to  choose, 
the  yellow  and  black  bourgeoisie  will  range  themselves,  certainly 
with  fear,  on  the  side  of  Soulouque,  on  seeing  the  xtiqucls  on  the 
other ;  but  if  Soulouque  does  not  go  in  person,  to  rally  these  fears 
about  him,  the  cities  will  be  inevitably  drawn  into  the  insurrection. 
The  bourgeoisie  would  rather  howl  in  consequence  of  blows,  than  be 
eaten  up  by  tho  pique/s. 


322  SOULOUQITE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE. 

however,  only  remained  masters  of  the  field,  after 
a  furious  combat  of  six  or  seven  hours. 

The  manager  of  the  pages  to  the  Empress,  a 
certain  General  Toussaint,  who  only  held  in  com- 
mon the  name  of  the  Jlrst  of  blacks,  in  spite  of  the 
pathetic  appeals,  made  by  several  journals  in  his 
case^  paid  the  penalty  of  this  third  misfortune. 
The  Emperor,  who  had  had  him  put  under  arrest, 
from  the  debut  of  the  campaign,  as  guilty  of  having 
censured  the  expedition,  had  him  shot  on  his  re- 
turn. Soulouque  reentered  his  capital,  on  the  very 
evening  of  Saint-Fausiin,  which,  for  the  first  time 
in  eight  years,  passed  without  illuminations,  and 
a  salute  of  cannon.  This  sudden  humiliation  of 
defeat  necessarily  concealed  formidable  storms. 

Besides,  victory  would  have  been  more  danger- 
ous to  Soulouque,  on  this  occasion,  than  defeat ; 
for  a  new  element  had  appeared  in  the  Dominican 
question. 

A  furious  hatred  had  succeeded,  in  1852,  to  the 
almost  proverbial  friendship),  which  had,  for  so 
long  a  period,  united  the  acting  President,  San- 
tana,  with  Ex-President  Baez.  In  1853,  the  first 
banished  the  other,  whom  he  accused  of  conspiring 
against  him ;  and  concluding,  from  certain  ma- 
noeuvres, in  which,  the  name  of  France  was  im- 
properly mixed  up,  as  premeditating  the  violent 
restoration  of  Baez,  Santana  entered  into  negotia- 
tions with  the  Americans.  The  most  unforeseen 
chances  conferred  upon  upon  us,   the  mission  of 


•    SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE.  323 

dissipating  this  mistake  ;  and  M.  Maxime  Eay- 
baud,  soon  after,  came  to  restore  all  to  order,  at 
Santo-Domingo.  But  the  annexation  glue  was  not 
detached,  so  easily,  from  whomsoever  it  touched  ; 
and  the  threats  of  a  Haytien  invasion  helping, 
American  influence  seems  to  have  gained  ground 
in  the  councihs  of  Santana. 

fOnce  well  convinced,  on  his  part,  that  he  could 
only  ex})ect  from  France  a  friendly  neutrality, 
Baez  threw  himself  back  entirely  on  England"^ 
which  was  not  S23aring,  however,  in  advances. 
Here  then, (the  young  Republic  was  condemned  to 
oscillate^  between  the  two  influences,;  which  re- 
pelled, so  energetically,  its  interests  and  instincts. 
^The  question  was  thus  reduced  to  know  which,  a 
British  agent,  or  a  fillihuster  Yankee^  should  have 
the  honor,  and  the  profit,  of  relieving  this  patient 
sentinel,  Avho,  to  the  qui-vive  of  barbarism,  had, 
for. so  long  a  time,  responded  :   *"'  France  !" 

/England  and  the  United  States  would  bring, 
without  doubt,  strength,  security,  and  riches  ;  but 
the  English  protectorate,  would  be  that  of  Pro- 
testantism— and  the  American,  with  the  invasion 
of  Protestantism,  would  be  the  tyranny  of  that  in- 
exorable prejudice  of  color,  which  spares,  neither 
soul  nor  body — neither  Christian  nor  citizen — 
neither  talent  nor  fortune — neither  the  cradle  nor 
the  grave.  We  can  understand  the  repugnance, 
which  su.ch  an  alternative  inspires,  in  a  country, 
whose  religious  wrongs  have,  perhaps,  contributed 


324  SOULOUQUE   AND    HIS   EMPIRE. 

more,  to  raise  its  indignation,  than  its  national  in- 
juries ;  and  where,  the  majority  of  the  population 
belong  to  the  sang-mele  races. 

But,  naturally,  the  greatest  number  of  chances 
are  in  favor  of  the  Yankee,  whose  covetousness  has 
a  more  powerful  impulse  ;  and  to  whom,  the 
proximity  of  the  coveted  territory,  on  one  part, 
and  the  commodious  irresponsibility  of  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington,  on  the  other,  allows  excep- 
tional means  of  action.*  But,  if  the  least  military 
success  of  Soulouque  should  furnish  the  American 
annexationists,  who  keep  themselves  on  the  watch, 
a  pretext  of  saving  the  Dominican  Republic,  the 
following  is  the  way  the  question  would  be  pre- 
sented to  His  Imperial  Majesty.  We  borrow  this 
citation  from  the  WeeJdy  Herald  (New  York)  of 
the  28th  of  April,  1850  : 

^'  .  .  .  .  But  if  at  this  time,  there  is  no  move- 
ment with  regard  to  the  annexation  of  Cuba,  there 
have  been  many  made^  concerning  the  Island  of 
Hayti.  His  Excellency,  B.  B.  Green,  has  been 
sent  out  to  that  country,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  report  on  its  actual  condition,  its  population,  soil, 
climate   and   other   matters  ;    and  Mr.   Green  is, 


"-■■  Besides,  that  it  enters  into  their  avowed  system  of  the  absorp- 
tion of  all  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — the  occupation  of  Hayti  would  have 
a  very  special  interest  for  the  American  annexationists  ;  because, 
from  thence,  they  could  descend,  in  a  few  hours,  upon  Cuba.  This 
last  consideration  has  been  many  times  set  forth,  by  the  American 
press. 


SOULOUQUE   AND   HIS   EMPIRE.  325 

probably,  at  this  moment  in  Washington,  preparing 
and  setting  forth  the  result  of  his  labors.  We 
should  not  be  at  all  surprised,  from  the  informa- 
tion we  have  received,  to  see  an  expedition,  (with 
the  sanction  of  the  Government  at  Washington) 
soon,  leave  some  Southern  port^  to  go  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Dominican,  or  Spanish  portion  of  the 
inhabitants,  against  the  blacks  ;  and,  in  the  end 
to  invade  the  island  and  annex  it  to  the  United 
States.  A  projet  of  this  kind  may  be  openly  sus- 
tained, in  the  United  States,  and  the  organization 
of  an  expedition,  with  this  view,  would  experience 
obstacles  from  no  quarter.  It  would  be  a  glorious 
thing  to  overthrow  those  horrible  pirates — the 
worst  of  pirates  and  coal  black  bandits — the  negro 
population  called  the  Empire  of  Hayti,  and  to 
reduce  Faustin  1st  to  the  condition,  for  luhich  nature 
has  designed  him." 

Whence  it  appears,  that  victory  would  have  been 
a  veritable  misfortune  to  Faustin  1st ;  and  that,  in 
going  to  gather  laurels  at  Santo  Domingo,  His 
Majesty  would  have  run  great  risk  of  going,  all  of 
a  sudden,  to  cut  sugar  cane  in  Louisiana.  May 
this  illustrious  existence  not  terminate,  where  ends 
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vol.  1,  1856,  vol.  2,  1857,  vol.  3,  1858,  vol.  4,  1859,  8vo, 
sheep,  Richmond,  per  volume 5  00 

RANDOLPH'S  (PEYTON)  REPORTS  OF  CASES  argued 
and  determined  in  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Virginia,  6  vols. 
Svo,  sp.  Richmond,  Va.,  1823,  &c 24  00 

RITCHIE'S  (THOMAS,  Jr.)  TRIAL.  A  full  report, 
embracing  all  the  evidence  and  arguments  in  the  case  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  vs.  T.  Ritchie,  Jr.,  for  the 
killing  of  John  Hampden  Pleasants,  to  which  is  added  an 
appendix  showing  the  action  of  the  Court  in  relation  to  the 
other  parties  connected  with  the  said  case,  Svo.  paper.  New 
York,  1846 25 

VIRGINIA.  PAY  AND  MUSTER  ROLLS  OF  THE 
VIRGINIA  MILITIA  IN  THE  WAR  OF  1812,  Svo 
half  calf,  Richmond,  1851-2 15  00 

VIRGINIA  CASES.  A  Collection  of  Cases  decided  by  the 
General  Court  of  Virginia,  chiefly  relating  to  the  Penal 
Laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  commencing  1789  and  ending 
1826,  copied  from  the  Records  of  the  said  Court,  with  ex- 
planatory notes,  by  Judges  Brockenbrough  and  Holmes, 
second  edition,  with  abstracts  prefixed  to  the  cases,  2  vols, 
in  1,  Svo,  sheep,  Richmond,  1826  and  1853 6  00 

VIRGINIA  LAW  OF  CORPORATIONS,  ACTS  OF 
THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  compiled  from  the  code 
of  Virginia,  together  with  an  act  passed  in  1837,  relating 
to  Manufacturing  and  Mining  Companies,  Svo,  paper, 
Richmond,  1853 50 


WYTHE'S  (GEO.)  REPORTS.  Decisions  of  cases  in 
Virginia  of  the  Higli  Court  of  Chancery,  with  remarks  upon 
Decrees  by  tlie  Court  of  Appeals,  reversing  some  of  those 
d-^cisions,  by  George  Wythe,  2d  and  only  complete  edition. 
With  a  Memoir  of  the  author,  Analysis  of  the  Cases,  and 
an  Index, by  i^.  B.  Minor,  L  B.  And  with  an  Appendix, 
containing  references  to  cases  in  pari  materia,  an  essay  on 
lapse,  joint  tenants  and  tenants  in  common,  &c.,  &c.,  by 
Wm.  Green,  Esq.     Svo,  sheep.     Richmond,  1852 4  00 

WHIT'^.  ACRE  vs.  BLACK  ACRE,  a  Case  at  Law,  re- 
ported by  J.  G.,  Esq.,  a  retired  barrister  of  Lincolnshire, 
England,  18mo,  mus.,  Richmond,  1856 75 

VIRGINIA.  RULES  OF  THE  COURT  OF  APPEALS 
from  its  establishment  to  the  ))resent  time.  Also,  Rules  of 
the  District  Courts  of  Fredericksburg  and  Williamsburg. 
Svo.,  paper.     Richmond 10 

GILMER'S   (F.  VV.)   VIRGINIA  REPORTS.     8vo.,  calf. 

Richmond.  1821 2  00 

GRAT TAN'S  (P.  R.)  VIRGINIA   REPORTS.     15  vols  , 

Svo,  calf.     Richmond,   184.5-60.     Per  volume 4  00 

LEIGH'S   (B.  W.)  VIRGINIA  REPORTS.     12  vols.,  Svo, 

calf.     Richmond,  1830-44.     Per  volume 4  00 

ROBLMSON'S  (C.)  VIRGINIA   REPORTS.     2  vols.,  Svo, 

calf.     Richmond.  1843-4.     Per  volume 4  00 

HENING  (VV.  VV.)  &  SHEPHERD'S  (S.)  STATUTES 
OF  VIRGINIA  from  1619  to  1S07.  16  vols.,  Svo,  sheep. 
Richmond,  1823-36 13  00 

VIRGINIA  ACTS  OF  ASSEMBLY  from  1808  to  1860. 
Svo,  half  sheep.     Richmond   

SELECTIONS  OF  THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  POR- 
TIONS OF  THE  REPORTS  OF  THE  REVISOR'S 
OF  VIRGINIA  CODE.  With  notes  by  A.  H.  Sands. 
Svo,  sheep.     In  press 

TUCKER'S  (H  ST.  GEORGE)  LECTURES  ON  NATU- 
RAL LAW,  also  Lectures  on  Government,  12mo,  muslin, 
Charlottesville,  1844 75 

ANTICIPATIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE,  TO  SERVE  AS 
LESSONS  FOR  THE  PRESENT  TIME.  Extracts 
from  letters  written  from  Washington  to  the  London  Times 
during  the  years  1864-5-6-7-8.  r2mo,  mus.,  Richmond, 
1860 100 

TUCKER'S  (H.  ST.  GEORGE)  LECTURES  ON  CON- 
STITUTIONAL LAW,  for  the  use  of  the  Law  Class  of 
the  Utiiversity  of  Virginia,  12mo,  mus.,  Richmond,  1843..         75 

VIRGINIA  POLITICS.  A  History  of  the  Political  Cam- 
paign in  Va.  in  1855,  to  which  is  added  a  review  of  the 
position  of  parties  in  the  Union,  and  a  statement  of  the 
political  issues  distinguishing  them  on  the  eve  of  the  Presi- 


dential  Campaig;n  of  1856,  by  J.  P.  Hambleton,  M.  D.,  8yo, 
mus.,  Richmond,  1856 2  50 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTIOIS'.  Proceeding  and  Debates  of 
the  Va.  State  Convention  of  1829-30,  to  which  are  sub- 
joined the  new  Constitution  of  Virginia,  and  tlie  votes  of 
the  people,  8vo,  calf,  Richmond,  1830 5  00 

VIRGINIA  STATISTICS.  Documents  containing  statis- 
tics ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  State  Convention  sitting 
in  the  city  of  Richmond,  1850-51,  8vo,  calf,  Richmond, 
1851 2  50 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION.  Journal,  Acts  and  Proceed- 
ings of  a  General  Convention  of  the  State  of  Virginia  as- 
sembled at  Richmond  1850,  8vo,  half  calf,  Richmond,  1850.     5  00 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION  1850-51.  Register  of  the  De- 
bates and  Proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Reform  Convention, 
(imperfect,)  8vo,  half  sheep,  Richmond,  1851 3  00 

VIRGINIA.  Journal  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Delegates 
for  various  years.     Richmond. 

VIRGINIA.  Journal  of  the  Convention  of  1776.  4to,  half 
sheep.     Richmond,  1816 2  00 

ELLETT'S  ESSAYS  ON  THE  LAW  OF  TRADE,  in 
reference  to  the  Works  of  Internal  Improvement  in  the 
U.S.     8vo,  mus.,  Richmond,  1839 150 

LETTERS  OF  CURTIUS,  written  by  the  late  John  Thom- 
son, of  Petersburg;  to  which  is  added  a  Speech  delivered 
by  him  in  August,  '95,  on  the  British  Treaty ;  to  which  a 
short  Sketch  of  his  Life  is  prefixed.  12mo,  paper.  Rich- 
mond, 1804 1  00 

JEFFERSON.  Memoir,  Correspondence  and  Miscellanies 
from  the  Papers  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  Edited  by  Thomas 
Jefferson  Randolph.  4  vols.,  8vo,  boards.  Charlottesville, 
1829 5  00 

JEFFERSON.  Observations  on  the  Writings  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  with  particular  reference  to  the  attack  they  con- 
tain on  the  IMemory  of  the  late  Gen'l  Henry  Lee.  In 
series  of  letters,  by  H.  Lee.  2nd  edition.  With  an  Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  by  Charles  C.  Lee.  8vo,  mus.  Phila- 
delphia, 1839 1  75 

LONDON  (D.H.)  ON  THE  COMMERCIAL,  AGRICUL- 
TURAL AND  INTELLECTUAL  INDEPENDENCE 
OF  VIRGINIA  AND  THE  SOUTH.  8vo,  paper.  Rich- 
mond, 1860 25 

VIRGINIAN  (THE)  HISTORY  OF  THE  AFRICAN 
COLONIZATION.  (This  contains,  among  other  docu- 
ments, portions  of  the  Debate  on  Slavery  in  the  Virginia 
Legislature  of  1832.)     Edited  by  Rev.  P.  Slaughter.    8vo, 

mus.,  Richmond,  1855 1  00 

RUFFIN'S  (EDMUND)  AFRICAN  COLONIZATION 
UNVEILED.      Slavery  and   Free  Labor  described   and 


compared.  The  Political  Economy  of  Slavery  •  or  the 
Institution  considered  in  reg^ard  to  its  influence  on  public 
wealth  and  the  general  welfare.  Two  Great  Evils  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  their  one  Common  Remedy,  8vo,  pa  Rich- 
mond, 1860.     The  four  pamphlets,  each 10 

HISTOID -y. 

BEVERLY'S  (ROBERT)  HISTORY  OF  VIRGINFA     In 

four  parts.  I.  The  history  of  the  settlement  of  Virdnia 
and  the  government  thereof,  to  the  year  1706".  II.  The 
natural  productions  and  conveniences  of  the  country,  suited 
to  trade  and  improvement.  HI.  The  native  Indians,  their 
religion,  laws  and  customs,  in  war  and  peace.  IV.  The 
present  state  of  the  country,  as  to  the  polity  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  improvements  of  the  land,  to  10th  of 
June,  1720.  By  Robert  Beverly,  a  native  of  the  place 
Ke-pnnted  from  the  author's  second  revised  London  edi- 
tion of  1792,  with  an  introduction  by  Charles  Campbell 
author  of  the  "Colonial  History  of  Virginia."     14  plates' 

Svo,  mus.     Richmond,  1855 '     2  «ift 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  DISCOVERIES  IN  THE*  WEST 
until  1519,  and  of  Voyages  to  and  along  the  Atlantic  Coast 
of  North  America  from  1520  to  1573.  Prepared  for  the 
Virginia  Historical  and  Philosophical  Society,  by  Conway 
^..^"^i^^son  8^'0,mus.  Richmond,  1848.  (Published  at  $5.)  2  50 
JEFFERSON'S  (THOMAS)  NOTES  ON  THE  STATE 
OF  VIRGINIA.  A  new  edition,  prepared  by  the  author 
containing  many  new  notes  never  before  published. 

It  is  printed  from  President  Jetferson's  copy  (trtockdale's 
London  edition  of  1787)  of  the  Notes  on  Virginia,  with 
his  last  additions  (they  are  numerous)  and  corrections  in 
manuscript,  and  four  maps  of  Caves,  Mounds,  Fortifica- 
tions, he. 

Letters  from  Gen.  Dearborn  and  Judge  Gibson,  relating 
to  the  Murder  of  Logan,  &c. 

Fry  and  Jefferson's  Map  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  Dela- 
ware, and  Pennsylvania— very  valuable  on  account  of  the 
Public  Places  and  Private  Residences,  which  are  not  to  be 
found  on  any  other  Map. 

A  Topographical  Analysis  of  Virginia,  for  1790— a  curi- 
ous and  useful  sheet  foi  historical  reference. 

Translations  of  all  Jefferson's  Notes  in  Foreign  Lan^ 
guages,  by  Prof.  Scheie  de  Vere,  of  the  University  of 
Virginia. 

Svo,  mus.     Richmond,  1853 o  'lO 

SMITH'S    (M.)    GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW  *6f"  THE 
BRITISH    POSSESSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA 
18mo,  sheep.    Baltimore,  1814 35 


6 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION  OF  1776:  Historical  and  Bio- 
graphical.   By  H.  B.  Grigsby.    8vo,  mus.    Richmond,  1855.     1  50 

OREGON,  OUR  RIGHT  AND  TITLE:  containing  an 
account  of  the  condition  of  the  Oregon  Territory,  its  soil, 
climate  and  geoi^raphical  position  ;  together  with  a  state- 
ment of  the  claims  of  Russia,  Spain,  Great  Britain,  and 
the  United  States.  Accompanied  with  a  map  prepared  by 
the  author.  By  Wyndhara  Robertson,  jr.,  of  Virginia. 
8vo,  paper.     Washington,  1846. .    50 

HOT  SPRINGS.  The  Invalid's  Guide  to  the  Virginia  Hot 
Springs,  with  cases  illustrative  of  their  effects.  By  Thos. 
Goode,  M.  D.     32mo,  cloth.     Richmond,  1846 25 

VIRGINIA.  Report  on  the  Soils  of  Powhatan  County.  By 
W.  Gilham,  Prof.  Va.  Military  Institute.  With  a  Map. 
8vo,  paper      Richmond,  1857 35 

BIRD.  WESTOVER  MANUSCRIPTS,  containing  the  his- 
tory of  the  dividing  line  betwixt  Virginia  and  North  Ca- 
rolina. A  Journey  to  the  Land  of  Eden,  A.  D.  1733;  and 
A  Progress  to  the  Mines,  written  from  1728-36,  and  now 
first  publislied.  By  W.  Bird,  of  Westover.  8vo,  boards. 
Petersburg,  1841.     New  edition  in  press 3  00 

BLAND  PAPERS,  being  a  selection  from  the  manuscripts 
of  Col.  T.  Bland,  jr.,  of  Prince  George  county,  Va.;  to 
which  are  prefixed  an  Introduction  and  Memoir  edited  by 
Charles  Campbell.  2  vols,  in  one,  8vo,  h'f  ro.  Peters- 
burg, 1840 3  00 

VIRGINIA  POLITICS.  A  History  of  the  Political  Cam- 
paign in  Virginia  in  1855;  to  which  is  added  a  review  of 
the  position  of  Parties  in  the  Union,  and  a  statement  of  the 
political  issues  distinguishing  them  on  the  eve  of  the  Pre- 
sidential Campaign  of  1856.  By  J.  P.  Hambleton,  M.  D. 
8vo.  mus.     Richmond,  1856 2  50 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION.  Proceeding  and  Debates  of 
the  Virginia  State  Convention  of  1829-30,  to  which  are 
subioined  the  New  Constitution  of  Virginia,  and  the  votes 
of  the  people.     8vo,  calf.     Richmond,  1830 5  00 

VIRGINIA.     Pay  and  Muster  Rolls  of  the  Virginia  Militia 

in  the  War  of  1812.     8vo,  half  calf.     Richmond,  1851-2.    15  00 

VIRGINIA  STATISTICS.  Documents  constaining  statis- 
tics ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  State  Convention  sitting 
in  the  city  of  Richmond,  1850-51.  8vo,  calf.  Richmond, 
1851 2  50 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION.  Journal,  Acts  and  Proceed- 
ings of  a  General  Convention  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  as- 
sembled at  Richmond,  1850.  8vo,  half  calf.  Richmond, 
18.50 5  00 

VIRGINIA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS, 
ADDRESSES,  &cc.  (Contents:  Stuart's  Indian  Wars, 
1763  ;  Grace  Sherwood's  Trial,  1705  ;  Address  in  1833  by 


J.  p.  dishing;  in  1851  by  W.  H.  Macfarland;  in  1852  by 
H.  A.  Washington  ;  in  1853  by  H.  B.  Grigsby  ;  in  1856  by 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter;  in  1856  by  J.  P.  Holcombe.)  8vo,  half 
turkey.     Richmond,  1833-56 5  00 

VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  1850-51.  Register  of  the  De- 
bates and  Proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Reform  Convention, 
(imperfect.)     8vo,  half  sheep.     Richmond,  1851 3  00 

VIRGINIA,  A  Comprehensive  Description  of  Virginia  and 
the  District  of  Columbia,  containing  a  copious  collection 
of  geographical,  statistical,  political,  commercial,  reli- 
gious, moral  and  miscellaneous  information,  chiefly  from 
original  sources,  by  Joseph  Martin;  to  which  is  added  a 
History  of  Virginia,  from  its  first  settlement  to  the  year 
1754,  with  an  abstract  of  the  principal  events  from  that 
period  to  the  Independence  of  Virginia,  by  W.  H.  Brock- 
enbrough,  formerly  Librarian  at  the  University  of  Virgi- 
nia, and  afterwards  Judge  of  the  United  States  Court  of 
Florida,  8vo,  sp.     Richmond , 2  00 

MAURY.  Paper  on  the  Gulf  Stream  and  Currents  of  the 
Sea,  read  before  the  National  Institute  at  its  annual  meet- 
ing in  1844,  by  M.  F.  Maury,  Lieut.  U.  S.  Navy.  8vo, 
pa.     Richmond,  1844 13 

BURKE.  The  Virginia  Mineral  Springs,  with  remarks  on 
their  use,  the  Diseases  to  which  they  arc  applicable,  and 
in  which  they  are  contra-indicated  ;  accompanied  by  a 
Map  of  Routes  and  Distances.  A  new  work — 2d  edition. 
Improved  and  enlarged.  By  W.  Burke,  M.D.  12mo, 
muslin.     Richmond,  1853 75 

COTTOM'S  EDITION  OF  RICHARDSON'S  ALMA- 
NAC. 24mo,  paper,  6c.  Per  dozen,  25c  ;  per  gross, 
)l^'2.50.  Containing,  besides  the  twelve  calendar  pages 
and  astronomical  calculations,  a  Jewish  Calendar,  Garden- 
er's Monthly  Instructor,  List  of  the  Virginia  Senators, 
Members  of  Congress,  Ser.ate  and  House  of  Delegates; 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina  State  Governments;  State 
and  Federal  Courts  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Maryland, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia;  Conjectures  of  the  Weather, 
Equation  or  Time  Tables,  Receipts,  Anecdotes,  &c. 
Published  annually. 

JEFFERSON  &  CABELL.  Early  history  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  as  contained  in  the  Letters  of  (during 
the  years  from  1810  to  1826)  Thos.  Jefferson  and  Joseph 
C.  Cabell,  hitherto  unpublished;  with  an  Appendix  con- 
sisting of  Mr.  Jefferson's  bill  for  a  complete  system  of 
education,  and  other  illustrative  documents;  and  an  In- 
troduction, comprising  a  brief  historical  sketch  of  the 
University,  and  a  biographical  notice  of  Joseph  C.  Cabell. 
8vo,  muslin.     Richmond,  1856 2  50 

JUBILEE  AT  JAMESTOWN,  VA.  Report  of  Proceed- 
ings in  Commemoration  of  the  13th  of  May,  the  Second 


8  I 

Centesimal  Anniversary  of  the  Settlement  of  Virginia,  I 

containing  the  Order  of  Procession,  the  Prayer  of  Bishop 

Madison,  the   Orations,   the   Odes   and  Toasts ;    together 

with  the   Proceedings  at   Williamsburg  on  the  15th,  the 

day  when  the  Convention  of  Virginia  assembled  in  the  old  || 

Capitol,   declared  her  Independent,  and  recommended  a  * 

similar  procedure  to   Congress,  and  to  the  other  States. 

8vo,  paper.     Petersburg,  1807 100  j 

VIRGINIA.     Journal  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Delegates  jj 

for  various  years.     Richmond.  * 

VIRGINIA.     Journal  of  the  Convention  of  1776.     4to,  half 

sheep.     Richmond,  1816 2  00 

JEFFERSON.  Memoir,  Correspondence  and  Miscellanies 
from  the  Papers  of  Thos.  Jetferson.  Edited  by  Thos. 
Jefferson  Randolph.  4  vols.,  8v,  boards.  Charlottesville, 
1829 , 5  00 

JEFFERSON.  Observations  on  the  Writings  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  with  particular  reference  to  the  attack  they 
contain  on  the  Memory  of  the  late  Gen'l  Henry  Lee.  In 
series  of  letters  by  H.  Lee.  2nd  edition.  With  an  Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  by  Chas.  C.  Lee.  8vo,  mus.  Phila- 
delphia, 1839. i  75 

-A.<3-I^IOXJLTXJPtE- 

RUFFIN'S   (EDMUND)  FARMEK'S  REGISTER.     10 

vols.,  8vo,  half  roan 30  00 

RUFFIN'S  (EDMUND)  PRIZE  ESSAY  ON  AGRICUL- 
TURAL EDUCATION.     2nd  edition,  8vo,  paper 10 

RUFFIN'S  (  EDMUND  )  AGRICULTURAL  ESSAYS  : 
Containing  articles  on  the  theory  and  practice  of  draining 
(in  all  its  branches:)  advantages  of  ploughing  flat  land 
in  wide  beds ;  on  clover  culture  and  the  use  and  value  of 
the  products;  management  of  wheat  harvests  ;  harvesting 
corn  fodder ;  on  the  manner  of  propagation  and  habits  of 
the  moth  or  weevil,  and  means  to  prevent  its  ravages ; 
inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  existence  of  prairies,  savan- 
nas and  deserts,  and  the  peculiar  condition  of  soils  which 
favor  or  prevent  the  growth  of  trees;  depressed  condition 
of  lower  Virginia;  apology  for  "book  farmers;"  fallow; 
usefulness  of  snakes;  embanked  tide  marshes  and  mill 
ponds  as  causes  of  disease  ;  on  the  sources  of  malaria,  or 
of  autumnal  diseases,  and  means  of  prevention ;  on  the 
culture,  uses  and  value  of  the  southern  pea,  (Ruffin's  Prize 
Essay  of  November,  1854,)  and  especially  as  a  manuring 
crop.     12mo,  half  bound.     Richmond,  1855 1  25 

RUFFIN.  An  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures.  By  Edmund 
Ruffin,  a  practical  farmer  of  Virginia  from  1812;  founder 
and  sole  editor  of  the  Farmer's  Register ;  Member  and 


9 

Secretary  of  the  former  State  Board  of  Agriculture;  for- 
merly Agricultural  Surveyor  of  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina; and  President  of  the  Virginia  State  Agricultural 
Society.  5th  edition,  amended  and  enlarged,  with  plates. 
Fine  edition,  8vo,  library  style,  ;ff'2;  cheap  edition,  l2mo, 

half  roan  or  mus.     Richmond,  1852 1  25 

PLANTATION  AND  FARM  INSTRUCTION,  Regula- 
tion, Record,  Inventory,  and  Account  Book,  and  for  the 
better  Ordering  and  Management  of  Plantation  and  Farm 
Business  in  every  particular.  By  a  Southern  Planter. 
"  Order  is  Heaven's  First  Law."     New  edition  printing. 

MAGRUDER  &  ORVIS'  DEBATE  on  the  Punishment  of 
tlie  Wicked,  and  on  the  Kingdom  of  God.  l2mo,  muslin. 
Richmond,  1855 75 

WALSH'S  (  REV.  J.  T.)  NATURE  AND  DURATION 
OF  FUTURE  PUNISHMENT.  12mo,  muslin.  Rich- 
mond, 1857 50 

MEMOIR  AND  SERMONS  OF  THE  REV.  WILLIAM 
DUVALL,  City  Missionary.  By  the  Rev.  C.  Walker. 
With  a  portrait.     12mo,  mus.     Richmond,  1854 50 

STRINGFELLOW'S  (  T.,  D.D. )  STATISTICAL  AND 
SCRIPTURAL  VIEW  OF  SLAVERY.  4th  edition, 
12mo,  mus.     Richmond,  1856. 50 

FAMILY  CHRISTIAN  ALBUM.     Edited  by  Mrs.  E   P. 

Elam.     Svo,  mus.     Richmond,  1855 1  50 

FLAVEL'S  WORKS.     Balm  of  the   Covenant.     View  of 

the  Soul  of  Man,  &c.     Svo,  half  roan.     Richmond,  1828..         60 

BLAIR.     Sermons  of  Rev.  John  D.  Blair,  collected  from  his 

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